


Heathens

by F1_rabbit



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:07:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8330698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/pseuds/F1_rabbit
Summary: It was meant to be an easy job, take out an IT guy and collect the money. But there was something about Kevin that made Jo think twice about killing him.





	1. Kevin

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this drabble](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5196848/chapters/14058980).

Kevin willed the computer to go faster, but the little bar moved only a few pixels at a time, taunting him as he waited for the files to transfer.

His heart raced and he knew that if he was caught doing this his body would never be found, but he had to do something to keep his family safe.

The job had seemed too good to be true, and it was. All the money, it was drug money.

He thought if he got the proof, it would be enough to keep McLaren from coming after him.

That night he left the office for the last time, he would make sure that they knew he was to be left alone, and in return, all their secrets would be safe.

He slunk home, his heart still racing with every little sound outside. In the end he managed to calm himself enough to doze off, but then someone knocked on his door.

Kevin felt his whole body tense, but he was sure that if it was McLaren and he ignored them, they would make it look like a burglary. He didn't want any of his neighbours put in danger, so he took a deep breath, and went to answer the door.

The man at the door was tall and thin, but he didn't work for McLaren, so Kevin relaxed as he opened the door.

That was when the man struck him with the handle of his gun.

*

Kevin woke up in a room that felt like a showroom, devoid of all personal touches, no evidence that a real person lived here. He blinked a few times as he tried to get his bearings, his head was throbbing and there was a stabbing pain in his chest.

There was no sign of anyone around, whoever had attacked him and brought him here was clearly long gone. Kevin was sure that he'd been kidnapped, handed over to someone who would make sure that his body was never found.

He looked down at his stomach, there was blood, but underneath the wounds were superficial, and he wondered why someone would do that. Kevin slowly took a deep breath, feeling his mind clear as he checked that no-one was around.

Stumbling to his feet he headed for the door, it looked like it should be the entrance to a bank vault, not the front door to a sparsely furnished flat. He grappled with the metal bolts, but it was clear that the door was far sturdier than anything he could break down with his own hands.

Tears were welling up in his eyes and he screamed until his lungs were raw, but it was no use, wherever he was, it was clearly soundproofed.

Kevin slumped down against the door, tears streaming down his face when he saw someone move in the shadow, standing up from where they had been sitting in the corner.

"Who are you?"

"McLaren hired me to kill you." It was the same man from earlier, the one who had attacked him, and Kevin felt his blood run cold.

"Are you going to kill me?" He tried to stop his voice from trembling, but it was no use.

"No, but as far as the world is concerned… You're dead."

Kevin let out a sob and the man came over to sit with him, his calm exterior was reassuring. He had no doubt that the man could kill him if he wanted to, so the fact that he was still alive meant that he was probably telling the truth.

"So, what do I do now?" Kevin thought about everything that he was saying goodbye to, his family and friends, his whole life, but he'd said that he would do anything to keep them safe, and it seemed that someone had been listening.

"I've always wanted an assistant."

***

A week passed, and Kevin settled, he was happy just to be alive, but that was when the consequences of it all hit home.

"I just want to go outside." Kevin folded his arms, and Jo rolled his eyes.

"You're dead." Jo looked at Kevin, and he shivered, goose bumps visible on his skin. "Dead people don't go outside."

"But I'm bored." Kevin huffed, and Jo drew his gun, leaving him silent.

"If you're going to be any use to me, you need to be able to use a gun." Jo held out the hand gun, a Beretta 9mm, not that Kevin would know that. He forgot that other people couldn't recognise guns just from the sound of the hammer being cocked, although what that said about his life, he didn't know.

Kevin reached out, tentatively touching the cool metal of the gun before taking it from Jo's hand. Jo saw fear ripple across his brow, before his eyes widened, feeling the weight of it before wrapping his finger around the trigger.

"Want to do a little target practice?"

Kevin bit his lip before nodding, following Jo to the small room that would have been the right size for a nursery, but for him it was the weapons room. The door was hidden by a bookshelf, not that he ever had visitors, but it would give him time to be long gone before law enforcement found his collection.

Racks of guns were piled high on either side, along with an assortment of knives, darts, and even a selection of bows, arrows piled around them.

Kevin reached out to touch one of the arrows, but Jo grabbed his wrist. "We'll leave that for another day."

"Yes, sir," Kevin said, giving Jo a mock salute, and Jo handed Kevin a pair of earmuffs, stuffing two cartridges into his hoodie pocket.

Jo grabbed the target, a large punching bag with a bulletproof vest, and a frowny face drawn on it, which made Kevin smile.

It was set up in the living room, the only room big enough to make sure that Kevin wasn't too close to the target.

Jo stood behind Kevin, guiding him into position without saying a word, ignoring the way that his hand trembled as he held the gun.

"Keep your eyes open, and take a deep breath." Jo rested his hand on Kevin's stomach, and Kevin relaxed as the warmth of Jo's hands let him settle into a steady pattern. "Squeeze the trigger gently as you breathe out."

Kevin breathed out, clearing his mind as he focused on the target, the crudely drawn heart on the bulletproof vest. He pulled the trigger, forcing his eyes to stay open as the force of the recoil snapped his hand up, Jo's body behind him was the only thing that stopped him falling backwards.

His heart was racing and the adrenaline was surging through his veins, but when he saw where the bullet had hit, he was beaming with pride.

"Looks like you're a natural."

Was that something other than indifference that he heard in Jo's voice? Maybe being his assistant wouldn't be that bad.

*

Kevin was pinned to the floor by Jo, his hands squeezing the life out of him as he gasped for air until he tapped his fingers on the floor. Jo stood up, staring at Kevin until he rolled on to his side, coughing as he felt the bruises on his neck every time that he swallowed.

"I know, the enemy won't go easy on me."

"They will not." Jo held out his hand, and Kevin took it, wondering what sadistic part of him was enjoying this. "Ready?"

"Ready." Kevin nodded, and Jo flew into action, his long arms giving him an advantage as the first punch caught the side of Kevin's face, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

It was rush, and it was exactly what he needed to focus. Time slowed and he could see all the little tells, the flex of the muscles, the way that his eyes darted to their next target.

Jo's focus was on his left shoulder, and Kevin intercepted the punch, yanking his arm out of the way as he punched him in the stomach, the temporary pain enough for Kevin to use his heel to swipe Jo off his feet. Kevin smiled as Jo hit the floor with a thud, but as he leapt in to pin him to the ground Jo grabbed his arm, pulling him to the floor as he swung round to straddle him, his fingers wrapped around his throat.

There was a bead of sweat running down Jo's forehead, he was getting tired, and Kevin could exploit that. He reached up to wrap his fingers around Jo's throat, squeezing hard as he used his strong thighs to lock around Jo's waist, rolling them so that he was pinning Jo to the floor, his face crimson as he moved his knee so that it was resting against Kevin's shoulder, weakening his hold and giving him just enough air to kick Kevin off.

Kevin lay on the floor gasping, unable to speak, but his smile said it all. He'd loved every second of it.

"I nearly had you," Kevin said, coughing as he got the words out.

Jo raised an eyebrow, flipping up on to his feet as though Kevin hadn't just been trying to choke the life out of him a minute ago.

"Nearly." Jo stripped out of his clothes, heading for the shower as Kevin went to sit up, but his muscles were uncooperative.

The sound of water running filled the flat, and Kevin counted the seconds that Jo was in there, always one hundred seconds on the dot, his ruthless efficiency filled every bit of his life.

Jo reappeared, towel round his waist as he went to the fridge, taking out a bottle of water and a tub filled with left over stir-fry that he put in microwave.

He towered over Kevin as he handed him the bottle of water. "Dinner's in the microwave, and there's chocolate milkshake in the fridge, it's good for your muscles."

"Never figured you for a milkshake kind of guy." Kevin laughed, but it ended with more coughing as Jo got dressed, packing all his gear into a holdall. Jo watched as Kevin managed to stand without falling back down, stumbling towards the little kitchen area to get his food.

"You know the drill."

"If anyone shows up, hide in the weapons room, it doubles as a panic room." Kevin rolled his eyes as Jo nodded. "And hit the button for the silent alarm."

"I'll be back before dawn."

Jo turned and left, the heavy door clunking into place as the bolts secured it. Kevin had tried seeing if there was a way to get it open from the inside, but the locks were a combination of large metal rods that bolted it shut like a safe door, and electronic locks, which Kevin was sure would have some sort of deterrent attached to them. Jo had a nice collection of explosives, stored securely within the weapons locker.

Sitting on the kitchen stool, picking at his dinner, the silence was eerie. He wasn't sure what else he could do to prove to Jo that he was ready, but he intended to make sure that he wasn't left sitting alone in the flat next time.

He put the dirty plate in the dishwasher, Jo was a neat freak, although being organised was what kept him alive. The chocolate milkshake tasted like heaven, and he gulped it down, before finding out the punching bag so that he could practice his attacks, he was going to make sure that he wasn't left gasping on the floor again.

*

Jo was up before him, which considering how late it must have been when he got home, was impressive. Kevin wandered through to the kitchen to see him drinking chocolate milk in just his boxers, and he was covered in bruises, his eye swollen and there was a nasty cut on his head.

"Are you okay?" Kevin bit his lip, he'd never seen Jo this injured, although he didn't normally wander around the flat with so little clothing.

"Yes. Ready to train?" Jo downed the rest of his milkshake before putting the bottle in the recycling.

Kevin blinked a few times, Jo didn't look fit to do anything other than have a lie down. "Sure."

Jo nodded, wandering off to his bedroom only to emerge a few seconds later dressed in just a pair of joggers. Barefoot, but from the way that he was favouring his left leg that was possibly due to injury rather than the heat.

Kevin went to get dressed, his sparse bedroom had seemed prison like until he saw that Jo's bedroom was identical and with even less home comforts. Jo had broken into his flat after he 'died' and brought him a few possessions. It was covered up by the fact that he'd tipped off a petty thief to the fact that Kevin's place was empty, and they'd stolen all the high value electronics and pawned them, only to be caught less than a day later.

He glanced at the photo of his mum and siblings, before hiding it back under the pillow, he knew they were better off thinking that he was dead. It was the only way to keep them safe.

Jo was already in the weapons room, and Kevin peered over at the bows that were stacked neatly in the corner.

"Bow and arrow it is." Jo raised an eyebrow, and Kevin wondered what he'd let himself in for.

"What do you use them for?" Kevin asked, they looked fun and all, but he couldn't see a practical use of them, apart from training.

"Hunting accident gone wrong."

The way that Jo said it had Kevin intrigued, so matter of fact, even though they were talking about someone's life, and he wondered how long it would take him to get like that.

"Oh."

Jo set the target up in the living room, there was no sign of damage to the paint on the wall behind it, and Kevin wanted to keep it that way. He took a deep breath as he watched Jo get into position, every muscle in his arms standing out as he pulled the bow back, his stomach perfectly taut as he held his breath, exhaling only when he was ready to fire.

The arrow zipped across the living room, hitting the target right on the bull's eye. Jo made it look so easy and even though he'd never done anything like it before, Kevin was sure that he could manage it.

Jo went to retrieve the arrow, holding the bow out for Kevin to take as he got into position around him. The way that Jo interacted with him was a familiar constant, calm and methodical, just like him.

Once Kevin was in position, Jo stepped back, leaving him space to draw the bow.

"Breathe in as you draw the bow back, and then let it out when you fire."

Kevin took a deep breath, lining the target up, his muscles trembling as he felt the burn, and he let the arrow fly. He knew that it wasn't perfect, but it hit the target, and that was enough for a first attempt.

"Not bad." Jo held out five more arrows. "I want to see you hit the bull's eye tonight."

Kevin eyed up the five arrows, he wasn't that far off with his first shot, but would he manage it with five? He nodded, taking the arrows and sitting them on the sofa next to him, aware of Jo's eyes watching him. Judging him.

Each breath felt like time was slowing in front of him, his eyes getting sharper as he focused on the target, focused on his breathing as he let the arrow fly.

"Close," Jo said, and Kevin froze, he'd forgotten that he was still there. The arrow was close to the bull's eye, and Kevin wanted to get it with the next shot.

He took a deep breath, pulling the arrow back as he focused on the target. This time he was quicker, didn't wait as long to release the arrow, and it flew straight into the bull's eye.

Jo stood up and took the bow from Kevin's hand, loading it as he made sure that Kevin was watching. He didn't even look at the target when he released the arrow, and the crunch as it split the existing arrow in two was all the confirmation Jo needed.

"I want you to practice until you can do that."

Kevin nodded, at least Jo didn't expect him to do that right now, although he was already proud of his progress. It was easier now that he had experience with other weapons, the basic skills for focusing appeared to be the same.

Jo retreated to his room, Kevin couldn't tell if he was studying weapons manuals or if he was sleeping. He was naturally quiet, although even Kevin could work out that noisy hitmen didn't have long careers.

Kevin spent the rest of the day practicing until he could hit the bull's eye twice in a row. That evening Jo watched him do it, and he merely nodded, it was the closest that Kevin was getting to a 'nice job'.

*

"Please can I come with you?" Kevin wasn't above begging if it got him out of the flat. He'd trained so hard, done it all without complaint, and he hoped that Jo had noticed.

"No." Jo was stuffing explosives into his bag, and Kevin watched intently, wondering what sort of job he was going to tonight.

"Please?"

Jo compressed his lips, and Kevin was sure that he'd overstepped his mark. There was a flicker of a smile, and Kevin didn't know what to make of that.

"Next time."

Kevin wanted to hug Jo, but he was sure that a hug would definitely be too much. "Thank you."

"You know the drill." Jo disappeared off, out into the world, and Kevin felt excited. Next time he was going to be accompanying him.

Kevin looked around the flat, and the open weapons room called to him. The knives glinted in the light, and he went to set up the target in the living room. He'd not yet got the hang of throwing knives, it didn't come naturally to him, but he wanted Jo to see that he could do it, prove that he was ready to go out on a job.

Now that he'd learned to focus on the target even with the weight of the bow, he felt more confident at his chances of mastering this. He held the knife between his fingers, tight enough to stop it falling, but relaxed enough that he could move his arm in a smooth arc.

Kevin took a deep breath as he focused on the target, on his stance, the feel of the cool metal in his grip. He exhaled as he threw it, watching as it flew to the centre of the target, embedding itself there with a satisfying thud.

He grinned, pleased with himself, but he knew that it would take more than one good throw to convince Jo that he was ready. Kevin retrieved the knife, preparing himself for a long night of practice.

Jo was back late, the smell of smoke hanging around him as he headed for the shower. The sound of water running for exactly one hundred seconds before Jo emerged, looking fresh and alert and not at all like he'd just escaped from an exploding building.

Kevin was expecting him to say something about his knife skills, but he could tell from the way that his brow was furrowed that now wasn't the time.

"Close shave?" Kevin asked. Jo didn't usually talk about his work, not really, but if he was going to be accompanying him in the future, then he wanted to know everything.

"Took a little creative problem solving." Jo picked up the tv remote and flicked it on to a news channel.

The report said that a building designated for demolition tomorrow had exploded early, put down to squatters starting a fire.

"That is one hell of an accident."

"Yep." Jo took a bottle of chocolate milkshake out of the fridge, chugging it down as Kevin stared at him, his eyes wide and a smile on his face. "Had to stay and make sure the hit was successful."

Kevin nodded, the vicarious thrill had him buzzing, and this was the most words that he'd got out of Jo apart from being told what to do.

Next time he was going with him, and he couldn't wait.


	2. First Hit

Kevin felt every atom of his body vibrating with excitement, Jo had a new job, and he was getting to go with him.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Jo had used the foghorn to get him out of bed. He'd woken with a jolt, his eyes darting around as he tried to see where the danger was, but there was just Jo standing by the door, his face neutral and his lips compressed.

"It's time."

Kevin got dressed quickly, in his most average clothes, jeans and a hoodie, all in dark, plain colours. He looked like every other guy, indistinguishable from the crowd, and that was exactly what he wanted.

Jo handed him a rucksack, and from the weight it was clearly empty. It seemed strange to be going out without any weapons, but maybe it was a test, to see if he could be trusted on a hit.

He didn't say anything, he didn't want Jo to change his mind and leave him at home.

They strolled through the crowds of London, blending in with all the other people milling around, living their lives. Kevin took a deep breath of the stale air, he had missed being outside, feeling the breeze on his cheek.

He was so overwhelmed by the feeling of being free that Jo kept having to slow down for him, and Kevin could tell that he wasn't impressed. In the end he took Kevin's hand, intertwining their fingers as couples do, and hardly anyone gave them a second look.

Kevin was glad that he'd been training every day, keeping up with Jo had ended with him having to jog. As they approached a large office building, Jo dragged Kevin into an alley, and he suddenly had a sinking feeling as to why his rucksack had no weapons in.

Jo was going to kill him.

"Stay here, hidden out of sight," Jo said, and Kevin nodded, his heart racing as he tried to work out the best escape route, but there were none.

Kevin crouched down behind the large bin, peering round so that he could see what was going on. Jo was talking to a man in an expensive looking business suit, who handed him something small, which Jo stuffed into his hoodie pocket.

Was this Jo collecting payment for an earlier hit? Was that why he didn't need any weapons?

Kevin looked at the thick bars blocking the exit to the alley, the tall buildings hemming them in on either side. The only way out was past Jo, and he wasn't sure that he'd be able to take him in a fight, even with the element of surprise.

The well-dressed man disappeared, leaving Jo alone in the alley, or so he thought. Kevin wanted to go up and ask Jo what was going on, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread, so he did what he was told. It was all that he knew now, he had never disobeyed Jo, and he was sure that he didn't want to know what would happen if he did.

Jo strolled back over to him, and he could clearly see the confusion and fear on Kevin's face, his brow was furrowed and he could feel that his muscles were tense.

"People are naturally suspicious," Jo said, "If they'd seen someone else, they would have thought it was a set-up."

Jo took his hand out of his pocket, holding it out so that Kevin could see the small key with a plastic fob attached, the kind that gym lockers use.

Kevin nodded, standing up so that he could follow Jo. This time he didn't need Jo to hold his hand, the job was on, and he was going to be a part of it, rather than the target.

His lips flickered into a smile, before he got control of himself, keeping a neutral face. It wasn't something that Jo had told him to do, but he'd copied Jo anyway. He wanted to get this right.

They walked along the river, keeping to the side so that the cameras wouldn't be able to catch them, not that it was going to be easy to identify two generic looking guys in hoodies.

A few streets later they were approaching a boxing gym, the sort where people just wander in, and Jo nodded at the guy on the door as he strolled in.

Kevin followed Jo obediently, and they headed for the locker room, but then Jo was getting changed into his training gear. He opened up what he thought was the empty rucksack, and saw that his training clothes were in there.

Jo looked at him, and Kevin didn't wait to be told to get changed. He hurried to get out of his jeans, and into something more suitable for boxing.

"Everyone here thinks I'm a trainer for top athletes," Jo whispered, glancing around to make sure that they were still alone, "It explains the random schedule and the erratic hours that I come in here."

Kevin nodded, Jo had to have some way of explaining what he did. Personal trainer seemed so ordinary, and yet he knew that was deliberate, another way of hiding in the shadows.

The gym was quiet, and the few people that were in didn't really look in their direction, they were far too busy focusing on their own thing.

Kevin was impressed with how much he'd improved since Jo had started training him, but when it came to sparring, Jo still had the upper hand. Right now that was comforting, knowing that no matter what happened, Jo seemed to have the skills to handle it all.

He was under no illusions about what was about to go down, and yet he couldn't stop the feeling of excitement. Kevin wanted to believe that it was just because he was free, finally out of the flat.

Once they were in the showers, Kevin counted the hundred seconds that it took Jo to get clean, and he tried to do the same. Jo was dressed before him, and he checked that they were the only people in the changing room before wandering over to the locker.

Kevin wanted to see what he was doing, but from the way he was positioned in line of sight of the door, he was Jo's lookout, and he was sure that Jo had done that deliberately.

They nodded to the guy on the door on the way out, and Kevin felt goose bumps appear, he was on his way to a real live hit.

A short walk later, Kevin could feel the adrenaline surging through his veins. He was standing in an underground car park, and the tension was rising.

Jo lifted a clear plastic bag out of his rucksack, and Kevin saw the gun.

"Are you ready?" Jo asked, and Kevin nodded without a second thought, he was too far in to turn back now. Not that he wanted to.

Jo handed him a pair of thin latex gloves, and Kevin put them on without question. The gun felt good in his hand, and he looked over to see Jo fiddling with the control panel for the automatic barrier, making sure that it was set to stay closed.

"I'm going to knock on the driver's window, ask for spare change." Jo stared into Kevin's eyes, scanning his face for any trace of uncertainty or fear. "You are going to shoot the passenger, while I distract the driver."

"Understood." Kevin nodded, he was ready for this.

Time slowed as the car approached the barrier. Kevin had to resist the urge to peek out from behind the pillar, he needed the element of surprise on his side.

The car stopped, and Jo stumbled out of the shadows towards the driver, knocking on the window and asking for spare change. His act was uncanny, and Kevin had to remind himself that he had a job to do.

He moved without thinking, pressing the gun to the window as he pulled the trigger, catching sight of his reflection. He didn't blink as the sound of the gunshot echoed around, the sound of the driver screaming as the tyres squealed. The barrier shattered as he drove through it, his passenger now long gone, there was no way that he could be saved.

Kevin tucked the gun in his pocket, running after Jo as they took off through the back exit of the car park, the one that brought them out near the river.

At the end of the narrow alley, Jo motioned for Kevin to stop, and they both took a deep breath before calmly walking out along the busy street, heading towards the river as the crowds surrounded them.

The sun was high up in the sky, and the riverside was filled with people escaping their office for lunch, enjoying the few moments of peace in their hectic day. They were all too preoccupied to notice Jo and Kevin, standing by the barrier, admiring the water as Kevin dropped the gun in, the seagulls all flocking over in the hope that it was food.

Kevin slipped the latex gloves off, stuffing them in his jeans pocket, he didn't want to leave incriminating evidence lying around for the police to find.

Jo slipped his hand around his waist, and Kevin thought that it was a reward for a job well done, Jo's idea of a hug.

"I'm so lucky to have you as my boyfriend," Jo said, staring at Kevin with a smile on his face.

Kevin couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so he just smiled and batted his eyelashes, hoping that it was enough. Jo stroked the side of his face, closing his eyes as he leant in for a kiss, and Kevin went with it.

Jo's lips were soft, and Kevin relaxed, letting Jo take control as he deepened the kiss. He let out a little gasp, holding Kevin close, and he wondered if Jo's harsh training regime had just been an excuse to get closer to him.

And then he felt people rush past him, the sound of police boots unmistakable as Jo broke the kiss, trying to see what was going on like the rest of the people.

"Sirs, we're going to need you to move on."

"What's happened, officer?" Jo asked, and Kevin could have sworn that he heard panic and concern in his voice. He was clearly a much better actor that Kevin had realised.

"Nothing to worry about, we've got it under control," the officer said, "But we need to clear the area."

Jo nodded, avoiding eye contact, it seemed like his confidence had deserted him, and yet Kevin knew that was anything but the truth. Kevin reached out to take Jo's hand, intertwining their fingers as they wandered away, both craning their necks to see what was going on, even though all of this was exactly as Jo had planned.

They strolled home through the park, it was the easiest way to avoid the cameras. Kevin was still buzzing with excitement, the hit and then the kiss had sent his senses into overdrive, and he felt like he was on top of the world.

Once the door was bolted shut behind them Kevin wanted to run around cheering, but there was something about Jo's face that said he'd regret that.

"How does a barbeque sound?" Jo said, raising an eyebrow, and Kevin nodded.

He watched Jo take the meat out of the fridge, and he followed Jo out of the living room window, surprised to see that he had a balcony.

After all these months trapped in the flat, there was a balcony. But he knew why he wasn't allowed out even that far, if anyone recognised him, they were both in a world of trouble.

The coals started to smoulder, and Kevin knew what he had to do, he took the gloves out of his jeans pocket and threw them into the glowing coals, watching as they melted away, consumed by the fire.

They ate in silence, the rush of the hit making way to exhaustion, he hadn't even eaten breakfast this morning, and his body was crying out for food.

Once they were back inside, the ashes of the only incriminating evidence cooling in the early evening breeze, Jo handed Kevin a bottle of chocolate milkshake, which he downed in one.

"Not what you expected?" Jo said, and Kevin blinked before realising that Jo was talking to him.

"I don't know." Kevin wasn't sure that he could put his feelings into words, but it looked like he was Jo's assistant now, so that made him the only person in the world that he could talk to about these things. "It was a rush, and I was expecting to feel bad, or guilty, when it all wore off. But I don't."

Jo nodded, and Kevin wasn't sure what he was expecting Jo to say to that. He just needed someone to tell him that it was normal to feel this way, that he'd done a good job, but he wasn't likely to hear that from Jo.

"Why was that guy killed?" Kevin knew that he probably shouldn't be asking, that there seemed to be an unwritten code of silence, but his curiosity had got the better of him.

Jo went to make a cup of tea, and Kevin thought that he just wasn't going to answer, but once he had a cup of tea in his hands, Jo spoke. "He messed with the wrong guy."

"And the guy that got framed for the murder?" Kevin sipped at his tea, he had learned to tolerate it, and coffee this late in the day after all the excitement was a bad combination.

"Didn't think you would notice that," Jo said, and Kevin could have sworn that he saw a flicker of a smile cross Jo's face. "He also messed with the wrong guy."

Kevin stared at Jo, waiting for more, and he could see Jo's resolve weakening.

"They were lawyers, who took bribes to keep certain people out of jail. When they didn't deliver, the fact that one of them had an illegal hand gun at home made him easy to set up, and the other guy was just unlucky. Where we ditched the gun, the police divers will find it, and that will be the end of the story."

Jo shrugged, glancing at the time. He flicked on the tv, to see that it had made the headlines for the day, and Kevin watched it all in fascination.

He kept waiting for it all to hit home, the fact that he'd killed someone, but he felt nothing.

Only pride at a job well done.

Kevin slept soundly that night, his mind had made peace with it all, and he woke the next morning feeling fresh and ready to train.

He spent just one hundred seconds in the shower, and he remembered to have breakfast. Even though Jo didn't say it, Kevin knew that he was proud of him.

***

Kevin woke up to the sound of the front door being opened, and he reached out for the knife that he kept under the mattress, pretending to be asleep as the door to his room creaked open. Jo knew how to open the door without making a sound, and his heart rate shot up, but he resisted the urge to open his eyes.

The attack would be so much easier if they were close by, and if they were unsuspecting.

He leapt out of bed, ready to attack, but no-one was there. Blinking a few times he glanced around, had he imagined the sound of the door, but then something caught his eye.

There was a passport and drivers' licence sitting by the bed, with his photo in them, and a new name.

Kevin Jansen.

He wasn't sure what to think about that, but at least it still had his first name, that would make it easier. Although he was learning that he was capable of much more than he'd ever thought possible.

Kevin crept out of the bedroom, knife still in hand as he saw Jo sitting at the table, sipping his tea and doing something on his laptop. It was the laptop that he used for work, it was only ever connected to the dark web, hidden out of sight from anyone who might be interested in stopping Jo from going about his business.

"Did you open my door?" Kevin asked, his hand lowering as his eyes darted around the room, checking that there was no-one else in the flat.

"Yes, I left you your new ID." Jo stood up and wandered over to the kettle, boiling it up before making Kevin a cup of coffee.

Kevin slumped down in the seat across from Jo, wondering why Jo would play games like this. But he knew the answer, Jo was testing him, checking that he was ready for a life as a hitman.

And in a strange way, Kevin was grateful for it.

"There's a big job available," Jo said, scrolling through something on his laptop, and Kevin wondered if there was some sort of ad listing for jobs. "But it's open to anyone, so we have to be first."

"Let's get moving." Kevin smiled, downing his coffee as he rushed over to the cupboard with the breakfast bars in. They weren't that tasty, but they were energy, and that was all that he needed. "What's the job?"

"Accountant got a little greedy, needs to be removed from the picture," Jo said, waiting for Kevin to get dressed, "Think you can manage to pack the guns?"

"Yes, sir." Kevin headed to the weapons room, grabbing three small hand guns with silencers, and the ammo for them. A couple of knives just in case they couldn't use the guns, although at this time of the evening there wouldn't be many people around.

He slung the holdall over his shoulder, and Jo nodded as they headed out into the night, slipping through the traffic on the way to the job.

They parked over a mile away, outside the boxing gym that they'd been to before, it wasn't the sort of place that had cameras, and Kevin couldn’t imagine anyone in there talking to the police.

Kevin felt strange walking around London with a gun tucked into his pocket, and a knife strapped to the inside of his wrist, but the more that he did it the more normal it felt.

Jo wandered up to the staff door at the back, from the cigarette ends scattered on the floor, it was clear that this was where they all came to sneakily smoke, which meant there were no cameras. Not that they planned on taking long, It was a simple job, in and out in under five minutes, and once they saw the target's link to organised crime, no-one would look too hard for his killer.

The keypad was a simple four digit code, clear from the buttons that were worn, and on the third attempt the little green light flashed to say that the door was open.

Kevin nodded as Jo opened the door, his hand resting on his gun as they prepared for the worst, but there was no-one there. The place was eerily quiet, and the flickering strip lights added to the strange atmosphere.

Something wasn't right, and Kevin couldn't put his finger on it, so he followed Jo into the building, making his way up eight flights of stairs as he kept his eyes and ears on alert. As they got to the door, Jo slid through, staying out of the camera's sight before taking out a small pair of wire cutters, disabling the camera with one snip.

Jo motioned for Kevin to follow him, and they were half way down the corridor when the lights all went out. Kevin assumed that they were just motion activated, and they'd taken too long to get to the next sensor. But Jo knew better.

Jo moved so that he was shielding Kevin from all the likely points of entry. Without knowing if the power was down to the whole building, or it was just the lights that were cut, Jo made sure that he was prepared for an attack from both the stairs and the lift, as well as the office.

Although he'd checked the background of their target, and saw nothing other than a greedy accountant, often people who played with fire had things that they shouldn't. Like guns.

There was the sound of footsteps, and Jo spun to see someone pointing a gun in his face. But it wasn’t the target. It was another assassin.

"Dany, long time no see," Jo said, as though he wasn't pointing a gun in Dany's face, while Dany did the same to him.

Kevin stepped out from behind Jo, proud of how steady his hand was as he pressed his gun to Dany's temple.

"What's next, a walking stick?" Dany smirked, indifferent to the fact that he had two guns pointed at him. "Is this your carer, old man?"

"Nothing changes with you, does it?" Jo smiled, and Kevin was sure that it was the first time he'd seen Jo actually smile. Not a smirk, not a little twitch of the lips, but a full smile.

"The hit is done, you can go home." Dany snorted, lowering his gun, but Jo knew him better than that. If the hit was done already, he'd be long gone.

Jo moved quickly, pulling the trigger as he aimed at Dany's shoulder. There was a bang, but Dany didn't flinch. Even with a bulletproof vest being hit still hurt, there was no way to take it without flinching, not even the great Dany Kvyat could manage that.

While everyone looked confused, Jo fired again, the crack of gunshot echoing around the corridor, but there was still nothing.

The bullets in the gun were blanks.

Dany elbowed Kevin in the face as he swung a punch to try and get Jo, but Jo caught his wrist before he could make contact.

Jo swiped his heel round so that he could throw Dany on to the floor. He knocked Dany's gun out of his hand, there was no chance that he'd put blanks in his gun. In the blink of an eye he had Dany pinned, his thigh wrapped around his throat as Kevin fired at him, blinking as the blood dripped from his nose, but it was no use.

Dany gasped and choked, but he had a trick up his sleeve, he stabbed Jo in the leg, forcing him to loosen his grip as he scrabbled away, getting to his gun just as the target appeared in the corridor.

"What ar-"

He never got a chance to finish his sentence, Dany had got a round off, a perfect shot right between the eyes. The target seemed to stay on his feet far longer than Kevin had expected, before slumping to the ground.

Dany pointed his gun at Jo. He wasn't wrong about who was the biggest threat to him right now.

Jo held his hands up, something Kevin never expected to see Jo do, and Jo moved so that he was shielding Kevin.

"The hit's mine, fair and square." Dany stood up as he tucked his gun away, pulling out a phone so that he could take a photo of the corpse.

Kevin watched the blood gush out of the wound, and he tasted the blood that was dripping into his mouth. It was all so clinical, so professional, and he was impressed by Dany's skills.

But he knew that Jo was going to be angry with him. He was angry with himself. It had not only cost them a lot of money, but it had cost Jo a little bit of his reputation.

"You might want to be out of here before the police arrive," Dany said, heading along the corridor towards an open window. He climbed out of it as though they weren't eight storeys up, disappearing into the night.

Jo helped Kevin to his feet, checking the floor to make sure there was no blood spots, but Kevin had been careful to catch it all with his sleeves. His clothes were going to have to be washed anyway, get rid of any trace evidence, and nothing did that like hot water and borax.

The adrenaline was still pumping, and that got Kevin down the stairs and out of the buildings with surprising speed. He couldn't tell if Jo was mad at him or not, and with every new street that they turned down, he checked for escape routes. Just in case.

They made it back to the car, and Jo still hadn't said a word. If he was going to kill him, he'd wait until they got home. But Kevin had nowhere else to go, so he got into the car, hoping that he wasn't driving towards his own death.

Kevin felt his heart pounding as he got into the flat, the sound of the bolts securing into place had the adrenaline surging again, but Jo said nothing.

He stripped off, putting his clothes straight into the washing machine, and Kevin did the same. Kevin was waiting for a sarcastic remark, a dig about being able to manage washing the clothes, but there was nothing.

Jo was in and out of the shower before Kevin could get the washing machine on, he poured the power in and set the dial for ninety as Jo came over to make a cup of tea.

Kevin showered, the water soothing his aching muscles, but it couldn't calm his overactive mind. If Jo was going to kill him, the shower would be the easiest place.

He heard the door open, and he prepared for a fight, but when he stepped out, Jo was just sitting on the edge of the bath that he never used. Jo had a small box in his hand, with a red cross on it, a first aid kit.

Kevin sat down next to him, the water dripping off his wet hair as he trembled. There was no sign of anger, but from what he'd seen, Jo wasn't the type to get angry.

The antiseptic wipe stung as it touched his skin, and Kevin forced himself not to flinch, he deserved the pain. It was his fault.

Jo patched it up with surgical precision, and Kevin was waiting for him to say something, but he just cleared everything away and went to bed.

Kevin lay staring at the ceiling, wondering what it all meant. He'd thought that they were starting to have a more friendly relationship, but he didn't know anymore. Nothing made sense.


	3. Run

Jo hadn't spoken to him in two days, and Kevin was starting to feel like a ghost. He'd trained by himself, but Jo still said nothing.

As he was eating breakfast, he watched Jo sip at his tea, acting as though he didn't exist.

"I can't take the silent treatment any longer," Kevin said, and Jo merely raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not your master, you are free to talk whenever you want." Jo reached out to take a piece of Kevin's toast, as Kevin sat with his mouth open, his head tilted in confusion.

Kevin thought back, had he really not spoken in two days? He hadn't done it deliberately, but it had just kind of happened.

"Are you mad at me for messing up the job?"

"No." Jo sat up so that he could face Kevin. "I should have checked it all myself."

"I want to be good at this." Kevin had realised, that even without Jo forcing him to train, he had enjoyed doing it. Compared to all the other jobs he'd had, this was the only one that had got him out of bed in the morning with a smile.

Jo wandered through to the weapons room, and there was the sound of bullets being poured into a box. He walked back through with a neutral look on his face, but Kevin could see the glint in his eyes. Whatever Jo wanted him to do, he wasn't going to enjoy it.

"Sort these into two piles, one for blanks, one for live." Jo put the box down carefully, its contents jingling as it settled.

Kevin took a deep breath, and he started sorting them.

An hour later, Kevin was starting to see the end of his task, and Jo was watching him carefully, cup of tea in hand.

He'd taken Jo's advice to heart, and he wasn't going to play the little subservient assistant any longer. "What's the story with you and Dany?"

Kevin could have sworn that he detected a vibe between them, but with not talking to Jo, he hadn't got a chance to ask.

"No story," Jo said, but his lips curled up as though he was smiling just from the mention of Dany's name, "We've gone up for the same big jobs before, it's not the first time that we've crossed paths."

"I could have sworn you were flirting." Kevin smiled, his old cheeky grin shining out, and Jo's cheeks were starting to redden.

Jo's phone buzzed, and Kevin laughed, sorting through the bullets as he smirked to himself. He didn't see Jo's face change back into his neutral face, his body on alert.

"Saved by the bell." Kevin grinned, looking up at Jo, but the second that he saw his wide eyes, he knew that they were in trouble.

Jo turned the tv on, he seemed to only use the news channel, and after a second, his face flashed up on the screen.

There were three other men pictured. One was Dany, although he was listed as The Russian, another was identified only as The Terminator, but it was the last one that was curious.

"KSI Agent Marcus Ericsson has gone rogue, and is believed to be working with the others."

The newscaster kept speaking but Kevin was focusing on Jo. He was putting all the bullets back in the weapons room, while filling bags with everything that they might need.

"One of these things is not like the others," Jo said, pausing the tv on the four pictures of them. They were all grainy and low quality, apart from Marcus' photo. It was clearly taken when he joined the military.

"Do you know the others?" Kevin asked, trying to work out why now. Was it his fault that Jo was wanted by the authorities?

"Yes, The Terminator works for McLaren. But Agent Ericsson, I can't see him going rogue, he's too much of a good guy."

"Could it be a trap?" Kevin pulled on his shoes as Jo rushed to Kevin's bedroom, returning with the photos of his family. He froze when he thought that Jo might destroy them, but he locked them in the safe, inside the weapons room.

"There's no knowing how much information they've got, they've not listed any of my aliases, but if they have this address then we need to leave no traces."

"Understood." Kevin had thought that he would feel more apprehension about going on the run, and yet he knew it was what had to be done.

He packed a few clothes, enough for a couple of days, and Jo threw him a couple of guns, along with a selection of knives. He watched Jo put an alarming collection of things in his bag before sealing the weapons room shut, checking that the bookshelf hid the door.

"Definitely got live ammo?" Kevin said, raising an eyebrow.

Jo smirked, it was the closest that Kevin had got to a smile from him. "Definitely."

*

The car had been left at home, although it didn't look like they had any information on Jo other than his photograph, there was no way of knowing that for sure.

They had wandered through town, blending in with the crowds before settling in an alley behind a large office block so that Jo could borrow their wi-fi for a bit.

"What are your aliases?" Kevin asked, glancing around to check that they were alone. During the day they always had to be vigilant for people looking for somewhere to have a sly smoke.

Jo typed quickly, not stopping until he was done. He looked up at Kevin, shaking his head in amusement.

"I used to work with explosives, so I was The Demolition Man, but it's kind of niche, and I branched out into assassinations." Jo stood up and smashed the laptop on the ground, stomping on it until it was little more than fragments of plastic and metal.

Kevin stared at him as he picked up the bits and piled them into the large bin. It was mostly filled with paper, and Kevin knew where this was heading.

"So, it was said that all I left was the smoke from my gun, and the nickname Smoke stuck. And I'm nifty with getting in and out of places, so…"

"They called you Houdini, how original." Kevin laughed as Jo took out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one and taking a drag. He pulled a funny face, there was no way that he was a regular smoker with how fit he was, but it was the easiest way to create an 'accidental' fire.

"It makes things easier for me if law enforcement think that they're looking for three people instead of one." Jo smiled, holding the cigarette to the papers as he waited for it to catch fire.

"Very clever," Kevin said, smiling as he watched the papers, and the remains of Jo's laptop, go up in flames.

"I'm not the only one with multiple nicknames," Jo said, waiting until the fire was sufficiently big to be left to burn on its own. "The Russian, Dany, is also The Rabbit, always able to escape."

"And The Terminator?"

"He's also The Chef." Jo smiled, and Kevin wrinkled his brow in confusion. "He's good with poison."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"If anything happens to me, I want you to hand everything over to the police." Jo's voice sent chills down his spine, and Kevin nodded. "Show them the flat, but make sure you get a guarantee of immunity first. You can go back to your old life."

Kevin wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to his old life, but it wasn't the time for him to argue. Jo was a wanted man, and if he was found with him now, there was no way that he could claim he was an unwilling accomplice.

He liked this life, and he wasn't sure that he would be able to turn his back on it.

*

The rest of the day had been spent checking out an old abandoned factory, and Jo had been quiet about what they were doing there.

Kevin had asked a lot of questions, but he could see Jo's patience wearing thing.

"Please don't think that just because I spared your life I'm concerned with keeping you alive."

Kevin nodded, compressing his lips as he went back to watching for any sign of people coming and going from the factory. The whole area seemed deserted and run down. They were in another abandoned building that looked out over the factory, waiting for the others to show up.

"There's someone," Kevin whispered, squinting through the binoculars as he pointed them out. It looked like a homeless person, scruffy clothes and a trolley filled with random things, but it could be a disguise.

Jo looked through the scope on his rifle, shaking his head as if to say they weren't a threat.

Something scurried nearby, one of the many rats that they'd seen which called this place home. Kevin tried not to think about it, and he went back to looking through the binoculars. There was nothing of interest, but then he heard something alarming.

The sound of a gun being cocked.

Jo spun round with surprising ease, lying on his back with the rifle pointed at The Terminator.

"Stoffel, long time no see," Jo said, as thought he was having brunch with friends and not facing down the barrel of a gun. "How did you get out of Singapore so quickly?"

Stoffel smirked, it seemed to go with the job, and he shrugged without losing aim, which was an impressive skill.

"McLaren may have disowned me, but I still have my contacts."

Kevin froze at the mention of McLaren, it had been gnawing at him all day, he had been trying to place where he knew Stoffel from. Stoffel turned his attention to Kevin, and he felt his blood run cold. The only thing that was stopping him from panicking was the gun that he had tucked into his waistband. Stoffel wouldn't be expecting him to have it, never mind be good with it.

"Kevin, you're looking very… alive."

Kevin just smirked, he had nothing to say to that. Although the fact that McLaren had hired someone else to kill him, said that whatever he'd stolen from them was very valuable indeed. Too precious to trust with Stoffel, they needed someone outside the organisation to do it.

"So this was your plan to kill us all?"

The split second of confusion was all that Dany needed to hang down from the metal beam, pressing his gun against the back of Stoffel's head. Kevin whipped out his gun, adding to the collection of weapons that were now pointed at Stoffel.

"No, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already." Stoffel slowly tucked his gun away, holding his hands up, although Kevin could see that he was ready for a fight.

Dany jumped down effortlessly, and Kevin thought that The Ballerina might have been a better nickname for him, but it wasn't really the time to be worrying about it. They had much bigger problems, like who had set them up, and why.

"Your nose healed nicely," Dany said, and Kevin shrugged. He wanted to say that it was Jo's first aid skills that had helped, but hitmen weren't really ones for small talk. Just sarcasm.

"So, if you didn't set us up, who did?" Jo asked, to no-one in particular. It was clear that if any of them wanted the rest of them dead, they'd have just rigged the building with explosives and set the timer to blow once they were all in.

"Agent Ericsson, does he have a grudge against you all?" Kevin asked, lowering his gun as he rolled over to grab the binoculars. He scanned the road below, but there was no sign of anyone, the trolley abandoned in the street.

"No."

Everyone spun round to point their guns at Marcus, and he held his hands up in mock surrender, strolling towards them as though there was no danger.

"Well, not personal grudges anyway." Marcus smiled, and Jo was right when he'd said that one of these thing was not like the others. He was clearly a good guy, although Kevin wasn't sure where to draw the line between good and bad anymore.

"So you've finally come over to the dark side?" Dany nodded his approval, lowering his gun as Marcus shook his head.

"No, I've been set up," Marcus said, sitting down beside Kevin, "And so have you."

"By who?" Dany asked, looking around at the four of them with suspicion in his eyes.

"Don't you mean 'by whom'?" Jo said, as Marcus glared at him.

"Really? There's someone hunting us down, and you want to quibble about grammar?" Marcus rolled his eyes, smile on his face, and Kevin wondered what his secret was to looking cheery in the face of death.

"You're right, it's not the time." Jo nodded at Dany, and Kevin could have sworn that he saw a blush cross Jo's cheeks, but it wasn't the time for that either.

"Who wants the four of you dead?" Kevin asked, he was aware of the time passing, and with each second it was more likely that they would be found, and killed.

"That's a very good question." Dany cracked his knuckles, as Stoffel winced, of all the things for an assassin to find distasteful. "It's going to be a long list."

*

An hour later Jo, Dany and Stoffel were still listing all the jobs that they'd ever done, and Marcus was adding all the undercover assignments that he'd ever been on. Between them they'd annoyed every major organised crime gang in Europe, as well as a lot that were based elsewhere.

There were a lot of people with reasons to kill them, but it wasn't making it easy to narrow down the list.

Kevin was one of the reasons on the list, if McLaren knew that Jo didn't do the hit, then they'd want them both dead, but that didn't involve the other three. He wasn't sure where his paranoia ended and the truth began.

"A lot of the leads keep coming back to McLaren," Stoffel said, as Dany glanced at him.

"Why don't you work for them anymore?" Dany rested his hand on his gun, but it was more reflex than a threat.

"They decided that I'd outlived my usefulness, and sent someone to kill me." Stoffel glanced over the list, scoring out a name of a fellow assassin that was now no more. "They won't be bothering us."

The sun was setting when they started narrowing the list down, and Kevin was bored of just watching, he had nothing useful to add.

"How do you know Marcus?" Kevin asked Jo, keeping his voice low so that the others wouldn't hear.

Jo smiled, putting on his best American accent, "I was pretending to be CIA, to get close to a target."

"I was pretending to be FSB, so that I could protect the target," Marcus said, as Dany raised an eyebrow.

"You don't look Russian," Dany said with a laugh, before going back to work.

Kevin should have guessed that whispering was no use for people who could hear the sound of a gun being cocked two floors away.

"I was going to take the target to safety, with Marcus, and then kill them both," Jo said, shrugging as he said it.

"But the joke was on us, the target planned on killing us so that they could start a new cold war." Marcus rolled up his sleeve to show a scar running across his right bicep. "He tried to shoot me."

"I was a much better aim than he was." Jo smirked, lying back as he stared at the holes in the ceiling, the building crumbling around them.

"Jo saved my life, and I gave him a little head start before I called in that the mission was a failure." Marcus smiled. "That made us even."

"Is story time over?" Stoffel asked, glancing at everyone before going back to studying the scribbled lists. "McLaren seems to be the common factor. I don't know how, but everything seems to come back to them."

"I know just the man to have a word with," Jo said, packing up his rifle as he glanced at Kevin. "I think it's time that Ron started to believe in ghosts."

"Okay, take Marcus," Dany said, and he glanced at Stoffel, "We're going to get some IDs, we need to get out of Britain as quickly as we can."

Jo took out a phone, he had a collection of unregistered mobiles, which they were going to need right now. It didn't take anything particularly high tech to track them. Stoffel made the call to make sure that Ron was where he should be, Kevin only heard half of it, but he heard enough.

"Screw me over like you did Kevin and they'll never find the body." Stoffel nodded a few times, but Kevin couldn't hear what Ron was saying. "Three on the dot, the main plaza."

Stoffel clearly had some sort of insurance in place for if McLaren decided to do this. Distrustful came with the job. Kevin stifled a laugh, Ron wasn't going to live to see tomorrow afternoon.

Stoffel took the battery and the sim card out of the phone, smashing it to pieces before throwing out of the broken window. No-one would notice it out here, no-one who would phone the police about it.

Jo pulled his hood around his face, scurrying into the night as Kevin and Marcus followed. It wasn't too far to McLaren's headquarters, their seeming legal front for their shady business.

*

"What did you do to annoy McLaren?" Kevin asked, as Jo was fiddling with the security system for the building.

"KSI has had an eye on them for a while, along with a lot of other people," Marcus said, "But as to why me? I don't know, I've never been undercover with them, or anyone connected to them. Not as far as I know."

"It doesn't matter," Jo said, as the screens all went black, "We just need to find out if Ron was involved, and if he was working with someone."

Kevin noted the use of the past tense, in Jo's mind Ron was already dead. And that made him happy.

All the time that Kevin had been training, it was always Ron's face that he imagined, the man who sentenced him to death for just doing his job. If only he'd know that they were a shady company, he'd have never started working for them, but by the time he found out, it was too late.

"Do you have an unregistered gun?" Jo asked Marcus, and Marcus looked amused at the question.

"No, I thought I'd kill him with my service weapon that traces directly back to me." Marcus smiled, and Kevin was starting to think that it was an automatic reflex in the face of death, but maybe he was just that laid back.

Jo rolled his eyes, his gun at the ready as he opened the door, and once he was sure that it was clear, he motioned for Kevin to lead the way.

Kevin felt a chill run down his spine, it was strange being back here. Not long ago he swore that he would only come back to kill Ron, and now it looked like the universe was giving him his chance.

All of his senses were on alert, and he led Jo and Marcus to the stairs, it was the easiest way to get up to the top floor without being seen. Even if they were going to have to climb nine storeys.

Jo and Marcus followed without complaint, and when they reached the top floor, there was still a light on in Ron's office.

Kevin crept along the corridor, staying close so that he could deal with any unexpected people, but at this time of night, it was unlikely.

Ron's office appeared empty, and Kevin had a sinking feeling that it was a trap, but then they heard the sound of a toilet flushing.

Jo and Marcus hid, leaving Kevin sitting in the chair across from Ron's desk. He waited until Ron sat down before turning around in the chair, pointing his gun directly at Ron as he thought about going for his own, but decided against it.

"Kevin?"

"Please don't make any sudden moves."

Ron held his hands up before placing them flat on the desk, his eyes darting around as Kevin saw the fear in his eyes.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Kevin smirked, shaking his head as Ron's hand started to reach out towards the phone. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not unless you want the whole world to know what really goes on here."

"If you had the evidence you'd have used it already."

"Maybe it turns out that I like my new profession." Kevin grinned, his normally cheeky grin now looked terrifying.

Ron snorted in laughter, he knew that he'd always thought of him as just the IT guy, nothing more. Ron would never have suspected that he had he stomach for this, although he'd not realised it until Jo had showed him the way.

"What I really want to know, is who ordered the hit on me?" Kevin leant in closer, the gun just out of reach if Ron decided to do something stupid like try and grab it out of his hands.

"It was me." Ron smiled, staring Kevin in the eyes, but Kevin could see the hesitation, he was lying to buy himself more time.

"I think if it was you that ordered the hit," Kevin said, his voice calm even though he was talking about his own murder, "That you'd have used The Chef, made it look like an accident, maybe an allergy mishap."

That got Ron's attention.

"I know you tried to get The Russian to do the job, and they're not McLaren, in fact they used to work for your rivals." Kevin sat back in the chair, watching the sweat drip down Ron's forehead as he tried to figure a way out, but there was none. Jo and Marcus were making sure of that.

He smiled, all the information that he'd gleamed from the others was definitely coming in handy now.

"That suggests to me that someone else was interested in making sure that I couldn't talk, someone with links to Red Bull."

Ron swallowed, he was cornered now.

"Fine, I'll tell you what you want to know, just as long as you let me live." Ron's pleading tone was all that Kevin wanted to hear, if he was desperate, he was more likely to tell him the truth.

"Deal."

"Horner, he's in charge of the books for Red Bull, we supply their computing systems." Ron's hands were shaking, and the sweat patches under his arms were growing. "He's the one that noticed you were looking where you shouldn't be, and decided that you should be taken care of."

"Where can I find him?" Kevin lowered his gun by a few millimetres, but it was enough to make Ron relax.

"Liechtenstein, where else do you hide dodgy dealings in Europe?"

Kevin grinned, he'd been waiting for this moment. He raised his gun and shot, the silencer making it seem like a peaceful death as the bullet landed in the centre of Ron's forehead.

Ron slumped down in his chair, blood trickling from the bullet wound as Kevin took a breath. He'd expected to feel something, but it was just what needed to be done.

Jo stepped out of the shadows as Marcus slipped into the room. Both of them looked indifferent to the fact that Ron was dead.

Marcus took a pen from Ron's desk, his gloves protecting him from leaving any forensic evidence. He drew a stallion on the back of his hand, and Kevin didn't have to ask why. It looked like a Ferrari hit, and that would be enough to throw investigators off the scent, as well as lull Red Bull into a false sense of security.

They didn't want Horner to know they were coming for him.


	4. Escape

"How do you know this guy?" Dany asked, his hand on his gun as they approached the back of the run down computer repair store. There were bits of old computers scattered on the ground, dumped near the bin, someone had been scavenging for parts.

"He thinks I'm still loyal to McLaren," Stoffel said, "Hopefully he hasn't heard the news yet." He pressed the buzzer for the door, Dany standing back so that he was out of sight of the camera.

Stoffel looked almost cheery, but there was something in his eyes that said he could quite easily dispatch any security guards without touching his gun, and that anyone left standing at that point would regret it.

The electronic lock for the door clicked to say that it was open, and Stoffel moved quickly, Dany sweeping in behind him, gun at the ready.

Stoffel froze, and Dany did the same, his eyes scanning around for any sign of danger. Dany held his breath, opening his mouth as he listened to every little sound.

The fluorescent lights were flickering, blinking in and out as the electricity hummed in the background. There was no sound of footsteps, or guns being loaded, and there was no sound of people talking.

It was too quiet.

Stoffel held his hand up in a fist, before waving it to say that Dany should go ahead. It meant if it was a trap that Dany would get taken out first.

Dany sniffed the air, he prided himself on being able to detect things just by the smell of the air alone. It was mostly dusty, with a bit of mildew, although it was an old building.

There was a hint of clay and ammonia, a strange combination of smells, and it could only be one thing.

Explosives.

"Run!" Dany was already sprinting when he yelled, shoving Stoffel in the direction of the door and hoping that it hadn't locked itself.

He saw that Stoffel had slid something into the gap so that the door couldn't lock, and they charged through it, dodging to the side so that they were out of the way. The blast blew the door off its hinges, sending it flying into the alley as alarm bells rang out.

Dany sprinted through the alleys of London, jumping fences and dodging walls, Stoffel right behind him as they got away from the scene of the crime. It wouldn't matter if they were the targets of it or not, the second the police saw them they would be arrested, if they weren't shot first.

They were miles away when Dany came to a rest, leaning against the wall as he panted, waiting for Stoffel to relax.

That was when Dany pressed his gun to Stoffel's head.

"You knew that it was a trap," Dany said, "That's why you told me to go first."

"If I wanted you dead-"

"I know, I'd be dead already." Dany rolled his eyes. "But if you wanted me out of the way so that you could use the others for whatever the hell you have planned, then you'd make my death look like it was a trap."

"If you don't trust me, fine, go your own way." Stoffel held the barrel of Dany's gun, forcing it against his temple. "But you know that we're all better off working together, it's the only way we can take down whoever wants us gone."

"You're Ron's pet, maybe I should tell Jo that he needs to be taken out of the picture." Dany ignored the way that Stoffel smiled when he said Jo's name, it was all just mind games.

"I bet Ron's dead already, Kevin knows that it's the only way, I could see it in his eyes."

Dany lowered his gun, Stoffel knew that he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that he saw as a threat. He was just working out if he could trust him or not. Dany wasn't sure if he trusted him, but he didn't really trust anyone, so with a lack of a better plan, they headed for the meeting point.

They were going to have to figure out another way to leave the country, all their current passports and ID were useless since they had no way of knowing what law enforcement knew, and trying to find out would probably only tip them off to their location.

It was best if everyone thought that they were killed in the blast.

*

The meeting point was the abandoned docklands, somewhere with no people, no cameras, and no-one cared if they were there.

Jo was sitting on guard, surveying the remains of the road below them. He had his gun in one hand, and a chocolate bar in the other while Kevin and Marcus stayed low, hidden out of sight.

Kevin was demolishing a bag of spicy crisps, he couldn't remember the last time that he ate, and each bite was like heaven. Even though he'd trained for this, he didn't realise how much he was giving up for this life.

"How did you end up doing this?" Kevin asked, his voice low so that Jo could keep his ears open for anyone approaching.

"I did my military service when I was eighteen, and from there they noticed my talents." Marcus shrugged, it sounded like he was talking about working for McDonalds, not for the Swedish spy agency. "I was good with languages, and weapons, and hand to hand combat. When I started working undercover, it all made sense, I was truly loyal to them. I still am, but they'll not believe that unless I clear my name, and that means tracking down whoever decided to release my name to the world."

Marcus let out a snort of laughter, his whole life, more than a decade's worth of training and loyalty, gone in an instant.

"We'll get them, and they'll regret ever messing with us." Kevin patted his gun, it was an automatic reflex. Wiping the orange powder off his fingers, he stretched, reaching for a chocolate bar.

Jo had shoplifted the food without batting an eyelid, it was the accent, no-one thought a guy like him would be stuffing sweeties and crisps into his rucksack. He'd gone to buy some milk and then apologised for forgetting his wallet. It was a big chain and Kevin was sure they wouldn't notice, they'd probably blame it on kids.

Kevin shook his head, he was racking up an impressive list of crimes, and yet he still didn't feel guilty and he wasn't sure why. He was waiting for it all to catch up with him, but it seemed that his mind had made its peace with his career choice.

They ate in silence, Jo sitting out on the ledge, silent apart from the occasional crinkle of the chocolate wrapper.

The moon was high in the sky, shining down on them when Dany and Stoffel approached. Smoke wafted in, the smell of the blast clinging to them, a reminder of what happened.

"Did you get the documents?" Kevin asked, but Stoffel pointed a gun in his face, the sound of Marcus scrabbling to get to his feet alerted Jo to the situation.

"Don't make me shoot you Stoffel," Jo said, his voice unwavering as he aimed at Stoffel's head. "Either we all trust each other enough to find out who set us up, or we just shoot each other right now."

Jo smiled at Dany who was watching it all with a glint in his eyes, and Kevin had to stop himself from laughing. "I don't mind which option," Jo said, "But we're not going to get anything done if we're trying to kill each other every two seconds."

Stoffel held his hands up in defeat, slowly putting his gun away as Kevin glanced between Jo and Dany. He didn't even have to say a word for Jo shake his head at him.

"Kevin, it's your turn to take watch." Jo nodded in the direction of the window, and it wiped the smirk of Kevin's face.

"Yes, sir."

Kevin wandered over to the ledge, and as he walked away, he could have sworn that he heard Dany laugh.

*

The sun was starting to peek over the horizon when Marcus came to relieve Kevin, they had spent the night making plans. With no passports, they were going to have to sneak onto the continent.

Stoffel had a stash of resources, but it was all in Belgium, and the quickest way there was to hitch a ride with a lorry.

Being in the middle of a semi-abandoned industrial estate meant they weren't far from a lot of major haulage companies, and it was early enough that there was unlikely to be full security, or a lot of people around.

Catch was, the lorry driver could never know that he had five extra passengers, so they were going to have to have to sit with the cargo. Cutting the fence and sneaking in to where all the lorries were being loaded was easy, and Stoffel had actually pretended to be a driver, his strange accent covering why no-one recognised him.

But Kevin had one question, "Why sheep?" He kept his voice low, as the others glared at him. "Why not something less smelly?"

Jo snorted in laughter, oblivious to the sharp smell of sheep droppings all around them. "It hides our own carbon dioxide trail, they can't tell if it's a little bit higher or not."

"Once we get to Folkestone we just have to stay quiet," Stoffel said, "They'll never know that we're here."

"Be grateful it's not chickens," Dany said, shaking his head as a sheep nuzzled up next to him, "Those little buggers peck."

Kevin went to laugh, but he didn't want to make any loud sounds that would startle the sheep, the last thing that they needed was the driver having to check on their cargo and realising that they had stowaways.

The rumble of the engine sent relief all through his body, and what that said about his life he didn't know. It had been a long night, and now that they were safe for a while, Kevin fell asleep, the warmth of the sheep comforting.

Kevin woke up with a hand over his mouth. Instead of panicking, all his training kicked in and he took stock of his surroundings. He was pressed up against Stoffel, and he wouldn't be covering his mouth to suffocate him, he'd just choke the life right out of him.

The lorry wasn't moving, so they must be at Folkestone, and there was the faint sound of people outside. Kevin hoped that Jo was right, the baaing getting louder as the doors to the lorry were opened, and he felt Stoffel hold his breath.

There was a sheet draped over them, the woven plastic that had been covering the straw for the sheep. Footsteps were approaching outside, and the sheep were scurrying around. Someone poked at them with a baton, but they didn't move, and the sheep were only getting more agitated.

Kevin felt his heart pound with each beat, and then the engine kicked into action, the sheep settling down now that the people outside had gone. They drove for a while, Stoffel's hand resting on Kevin's shoulders, neither of them had moved from under the sheet.

After the surge of adrenaline, Kevin couldn't get back to sleep, so he occupied his mind with something else. Working out who had a reason to kill them all.

Once they were on the train, everything was eerily quiet compared to the sound of the engine, and Kevin felt himself relaxing again. He drifted off to sleep on Stoffel's lap, cuddled in to his legs as the echo of voices surrounded them.

It wasn't until they reached the other side that Kevin woke up again, and he felt refreshed, which was strange for a man on the run who'd just illegally snuck into Europe.

The roar of the engine once they were back on the road was a blessed relief, and Stoffel took the sheet off them, the cool air rushing through the trailer as they all woke up.

All but one.

"Dany?" Jo was whispering in his ear, shaking him gently, they couldn't make too much noise.

Jo took his hands away, and that was when they all saw it, there was blood everywhere. He unzipped Dany's hoodie, before carefully cutting his t-shirt open using his pen knife. There was some sort of shrapnel stuck in Dany's side, blood oozing out of it as his chest continued to rise and fall. It was the only sign that he was alive.

"Pass me the bag," Jo said, and Marcus handed it over, it wasn't a surprise that Jo had a shocking number of medical supplies in there.

Kevin watched as Jo poured antiseptic over his hands and then Dany's wound. "It's not deep, but he's lost a fair bit of blood, which combined with running about all night and very little food means he's going to be down for a while."

Jo took the shrapnel out, it was part of a circuit board, and he dropped it in the bag, they didn't want to leave any evidence behind. It didn't take long to get Dany bandaged up, and Jo was forcing him to drink one of the stolen cans of fizzy juice. Kevin knew that sugar was all that they had to keep them going for now.

"When we arrive it'll be getting dark," Stoffel said, "So we should be able to carry him out without anyone seeing."

They all nodded, and Dany moved his lips as though he was about to speak.

"I don't need carrying, I've survived much worse." Dany lay back, resting his head on Jo's thigh as Jo brushed a strand of hair off his forehead. Jo made sure he was comfy, and Dany let Jo feed him as Kevin raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't anywhere near brave enough, or stupid enough, to tell Jo that it looked very loving.

*

The lorry wasn't going to Kortrijk itself, but the motorway was passing close by. They had two options, jump out of a moving vehicle, which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for Dany's injury, or they could wait for it to stop, and hope that it wasn't too far to walk.

They needed to make sure that it broke down at the edge of town.

Jo's gun had a silencer, although with the rumble of the engine and the sound of the traffic around them the driver probably wouldn't have noticed a gun shot.

"Everyone hold on," Jo said. He aimed at the tyre of the cab, squeezing off a shot as he used his free arm to hold Dany tight.

The flopping sound of the flat tyre was juddering through them, and everyone looked relieved when the lorry came to a stop at the edge of a forest. It would mean they could sneak off while the driver called for help without attracting any unwanted attention.

Stoffel was the first to climb out, squeezing through the bars that were designed to keep the sheep in. Kevin followed and Marcus nodded at Jo, slinking out to check that the driver was otherwise occupied.

"Are you ready for this?" Jo whispered to Dany, he'd got a little bit of colour back, although he'd never be anything other than pale.

Dany's lips moved into a weak smile. "Let's do this." He angled himself so that the bars wouldn't hit his wound, he didn't want to lose any more blood if he could help it.

Jo supported Dany's weight until his feet were on the ground, the others helping him to get down and out of sight. A sheep looked at Jo, and he was glad that they'd got an easy ride with their woolly friends. Jo ducked out through the bars head first, rolling under the lorry the second that his arms touched the ground. It was graceful and efficient, and the five of them saw the lorry driver wandering around the side, kicking at the blown tyre, even though it was clearly shredded beyond repair.

They waited for a while, the lorry driver made some calls before getting back into the cab. Now that the sun had set the temperature was dropping fast, and there was no point them freezing in the cold for nothing.

Dany shivered, and Jo knew that it was time for them to get moving, even with two coats the blood loss would make everything feel colder for Dany.

Stoffel crept out, checking that the driver wasn't watching before signalling for the others to move. Marcus was the last out, making sure that Jo and Dany got into the forest without any problems. It was at times like this that Marcus wished he had a Taser on him, he didn't want to kill anyone, and yet, he was sure that he could do it if he had to.

Jo was holding Dany close, making sure that he didn't fall. Roots were sticking up everywhere, and there were wet leaves underfoot. The last thing Dany needed was any more injuries.

Kevin followed Stoffel closely, his eyes constantly scanning the dark forest, the low moonlight enough to illuminate the shadows. There was something about Stoffel that Kevin couldn't quite put his finger on, and until he was sure that he could trust him, he would be vigilant. He wanted to tell himself that it was just because Stoffel was ex-McLaren that he felt uneasy around him, but it seemed to be an unwritten rule of the job to trust no-one.

The trees were thinning and they were approaching a field, with stones dotted around. It wasn't until Kevin got closer that he saw the graves.

A shiver ran down his spine, a graveyard was the perfect place to kill people and dispose of the bodies.

Kevin reached for his gun, his fingers hovering over it as he checked that Jo and Dany were close by. Even injured Kevin would probably bet on Dany in a fight, there was something in his eyes that said that he'd go down fighting.

Stoffel stopped, and Kevin froze, gun in hand as he went to raise his arm. But then he saw what was written on the gravestone.

_Stoffel Vandoorne_

_26 th March 1992 –  
29th November 2010_

Kevin stared at it for a long while, wondering why that date, but when he glanced over to see the gravestones next to it, he got his answer.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Kevin said, his voice felt strange, it had been so long since he last spoke. He could already piece together what happened, it was the same thing that happened to anyone who got in the way.

"It was what set me on this path," Stoffel said, looking down at his parents. "McLaren saved me, offered me a new life, one where I wouldn't have to look over my shoulder."

Kevin nodded, the grip on his gun relaxing as he felt the urge to hug Stoffel. But hitmen weren't huggers.

"I often wonder what they would think of me," Stoffel said, "I knew my dad was involved in criminal things, but I never knew if my mum was part of it, or if she was just collateral damage."

Stoffel wandered off, and left Kevin standing there, looking at the others as Dany slumped down by one of the statues. Jo rushed to get a fresh dressing on his wound, but they were going to have to do something to stop it bleeding.

Kevin looked away when he saw superglue being used to patch Dany up, somehow it bothered him that Dany was hurt, and yet he hadn't even blinked when Ron died.

He saw Stoffel returning with two spades, and Kevin knew what they were going to have to do.

Dig up his grave.

Between the four of them it didn't take too long, everyone kept a watchful eye on Dany, who was looking better now that he'd had a chance to rest. Climbing out of the lorry had been a squeeze for them all, but for Dany it was clearly impossible to do without hurting himself.

Kevin's stomach twisted when his spade clunked against the metal coffin, he didn't know what to expect. Was there someone else's body in there? But why would they dig that up?

Stoffel helped him heave the coffin out, and Kevin took a deep breath as he opened the catches. It was the first sign that although the box was coffin sized, it wasn't a coffin. Kevin looked carefully and saw lettering on the side, the language was unfamiliar, but the style said military.

Pulling his jumper up over his mouth, Stoffel opened the crate, and inside was a nice array of weapons, what looked like over a million euros in various currencies, plus blank IDs ready to have photos added.

It was a treasure trove.

"We need to fill it back in," Stoffel said, stuffing the contents of the crate into gym bags, all but the rocket launcher were small enough to be hidden while disassembled, but a military kit bag disguised the worst of it. With the amount of weapons they had on them, being caught with a rocket launcher wasn't going to make much difference.

Pushing the earth back in on top of the crate was much easier than digging it up, and a few flowers disguised the fact that it had been recently disturbed.

Kevin was relieved that all the boxes with the biohazard symbol on them had ended up in Stoffel's bags, although that left him trudging through the graveyard with a rocket launcher strapped to his back.

Jo was carrying three bags as though they were filled with helium balloons, and he was still holding Dany upright, although he was walking easier now the ground was more even. The smell of earth filled Kevin's nose, and he was sure that his face was covered in dirt and sweat. He was grateful that he couldn't smell sheep anymore, and he couldn't imagine what he smelt like to other people.

It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd had a shower, or warm food, and although both sounded appealing, he didn't miss them anywhere near as much as he thought he would.

They were all following Stoffel, shrouded in darkness as the moon was covered by clouds, leaving only the faint glow of streetlights in the distance.

*

Stoffel had told them to wait, and although none of them looked impressed about the idea, they had done as they were told. The bags were left with them, and Stoffel wouldn't have gone to all the effort of digging up his emergency stash just to leave it with them.

Five minutes later, Stoffel drove up in a van. It was a pile of rust with wheels, and it didn't look like it would get them to the Belgian border, never mind Liechtenstein. But it was all they had.

Kevin helped quickly load the bags before slipping into the passenger seat. Jo was staying with Dany, and Marcus was the most likely to be recognised since there'd been an actual high quality photo of him on the news. For the rest of them it was just hooded figures and blurs of pixels so random that even their own families wouldn't be able to identify them.

They disappeared into the night, preparing for a bumpy ride. Kevin was on alert, glancing all around as they joined the motorway.

"Where did you get the van from?" Kevin asked, checking the glove box to see if there was any food, but there was just receipts and wrappers.

"Scrap yard," Stoffel said, "If they report it stolen, that means police asking questions, so they'll just ignore it."

Kevin made a little noise in agreement, unsure of what to say to that.

"They were dodgy when I lived here, and it looks like nothing has changed." Stoffel let out a little laugh, and Kevin turned to see that he was smiling. It was the most words that he'd got out of Stoffel since they'd met that weren't about work.

Kevin smiled back, glancing over his shoulder to see Jo and Marcus looking at the remains of their food.

One single chocolate bar. And it was going to be Dany's.

Kevin's stomach rumbled, and he saw a sign for Luxembourg. It was going to be a long drive.


	5. Liechtenstein

Kevin woke up with a jolt, his stomach growling at him and he reached for his gun when he realised that Stoffel wasn't in the driver's seat.

"Stoffel's gone to get food," Jo said, "Dany's injury would only attract attention, and the fact that all of Europe knows Marcus' face meant that we had to stay here."

Kevin glanced around to see that they were parked in some sort of service station, and Kevin relaxed when he saw Stoffel returning with food.

Stoffel slipped into the van, handing Kevin the drinks to hold as he passed the bags of food to Jo.

"It's better if we keep moving," Stoffel said, and everyone nodded, "Are you okay to hand me food as I drive?"

Kevin nodded, he thought about offering to drive, but he was so hungry and the food smelt like heaven. Just the feel of the heat radiating out from the brown paper bag had his mouth watering, and he demolished the first burger before they had even got back on the motorway.

Dany was sitting up, using Jo's chest as a back rest, and he ate slowly, it was clear that his body was still aching. He sniffed at his coffee, his nose wrinkled, and Jo put an alarming amount of sugar into it, before helping Dany hold the cup steady while he drank.

Kevin had been handing food to Stoffel, and now he was feeding him individual fries. They were long since cold, but it was food, and they needed all the strength that they could get.

Red Bull weren't going to go easy on them.

"Why did you leave Red Bull?" Marcus asked, and Dany exhaled through his nose, snorting in laughter.

"I never left them."

Kevin watched as Stoffel's hand went for his gun, if he wasn't driving, he would have pulled his gun on Dany, again.

"You're still loyal to Red Bull?"

"They think that I'm still loyal to them, which is why I'm alive and walking around," Dany said, coughing as he took a deep breath, "They just loosened the reigns on me, let me take other jobs as long as they didn't clash with their interests."

"Like that would stop you," Jo said, and Kevin could have sworn Jo was teasing Dany.

"What they don't know won't hurt them." Dany laughed, but it turned into another coughing fit, and Jo held him close.

Kevin kept his mouth closed, but he couldn't stop a smile from crossing his face. Stoffel glanced over at him, raising his eyebrow as his lips curled up at the edge. Kevin wasn't the only one that thought Jo and Dany were close.

*

They parked in an alley, away from the main street, and there was no sign of any cameras. Vaduz was a small place, but not so small that they looked out of place.

"Jo, have you ever worked for Red Bull?" Stoffel asked, handing out wet wipes like a parent looking after his children. But they all had to look a little more presentable if they were to be wandering around the streets without attracting any attention.

"No, they've offered me a few jobs in the past, but I've always turned them down," Jo said, "I know what happens if you don't deliver."

"Do they know what you look like?" Dany asked, and Kevin could have sworn that he heard concern in his voice, but Dany was still pale, and he was weak.

"They shouldn't do, they only know me through my aliases." Jo pulled on a clean jumper, and he looked like a different guy, it was amazing what a clean and a shave had done for him. "I'll go and check out the building, see what sort of security they have in place."

Jo picked up a jacket, one of the many things that Stoffel had acquired on the drive down here, and he looked like an ordinary guy. The jumper concealed his gun, and a couple of knives, not that Jo needed any of that to kill someone, but it helped.

He ducked out of the van with little more than a nod at Dany, and the four of them waited. At least here they were out of sight, and with all of them sitting in the back it looked like an empty van. By the time anyone got close enough to see that it wasn't true, they'd be dead.

Kevin sat wondering what their next move was, taking down all of Red Bull was a tough job for just five of them, and there was no knowing if the trail ended here.

*

Jo strolled through town, someone less focused would have been grateful for the fresh mountain air after being cooped up in a fume-filled van for nearly ten hours, but Jo was looking for any sign of extra security around the Red Bull office.

A nearby coffee shop was the perfect vantage point, and he made himself comfy, a newspaper the ideal cover.

He saw people coming and going, all of them with security passes hanging around their necks, and it wasn't difficult to acquire one as everyone was leaving for the day. All he had to do was bump into someone and then apologise, his English accent doing all the hard work there.

To the untrained eye it looked like the passes were all the security that they had, but there was a few too many people lurking in the lobby of the office, all big guys, and from the way that their suits sat, they all had guns.

There were no cameras, they were a liability, something to be used against them in court. But that meant that there was more security on the ground. Stoffel's arsenal of weapons would be able to deal with them, and even without Dany, the four of them wouldn't take long to get the information that they needed.

Jo had always been good with computers, it came with the job, but Kevin was something else, and he'd be able to make easy work of Horner's computer.

He headed back to the van, taking a strange route so that he could see if anyone was tailing him, but there was no sign of anyone following.

Jo returned to see that Stoffel was gone, but none of the others seemed concerned about it.

"Stoffel went to get food," Kevin said, and Jo compressed his lips.

"How long ago?" Jo's voice was level, but Kevin could see he was not pleased.

"Twenty-nine minutes and thirteen seconds ago," Dany said, and Jo could tell that he was thinking the same thing.

Stoffel had used them to find Horner. It was a set up.

Jo was checking his gun when the door opened, and Stoffel was standing there with pizza. Kevin smiled at Jo, it was the closest he was getting to being cheeky with so much tension in the air.

They all ate quickly, it wouldn’t be long until the sun set and they could go and let themselves into the Red Bull office. Everyone appeared more relaxed, at least no-one had pulled their gun over dinner, and Kevin felt at ease.

Then he saw a few spots of blood on the edge of Stoffel's shoe. They hadn't been there before.

*

Marcus had been left looking after Dany, and guarding the van. Stoffel was in the building across the road, acting as sniper for them, although that didn't reassure Kevin. If Stoffel was here to kill Horner, then the rest of them had outlived their usefulness.

His heart rate spiked when he realised that Stoffel had brought them the food, and even though Kevin hadn't seen him go anywhere near the bag with all his poisons, that wouldn’t stop Stoffel.

But that was over an hour ago, and from what Stoffel had said, he did things that mimicked allergies and heart attacks.

Jo seemed fine, which reassured Kevin, and he was glancing up at an open window. It was only three floors, and Kevin wasn't sure when he started thinking of that as a reasonable height to be scaling up the side of building with no harness.

He followed Jo's lead, using the drainpipes and the gaps between the bricks to work his way up to the window. It was a rush, and when he slid into the building he had a smile on his face. Not that anyone could see it, since he had a mask over his face.

There was no way of knowing who might be around, and they didn't want Red Bull to know that they were here, it was best if they thought they were all in a non-extradition country sunning themselves and sipping cocktails.

They came out in an open plan office, deserted for the night, and they crept along the corridor. There was no sign of cameras inside either, and Kevin followed Jo to the office at the end, with a large gold plaque proclaiming that it was Horner's office.

There were two locks on the door, which meant that there was a good chance that all the secrets were stored in there, it was overkill for an ordinary office. Between the two of them they had the locks open in less than a minute, and the door opened to reveal a sizable office. A large oak desk surrounded by leather chairs said that they were in the right place, this was the boss' office.

Jo closed the door behind them, and Kevin went to take off his ski mask, but Jo stopped him. "We don't know if there's cameras in here," Jo whispered, and Kevin nodded.

The filing cabinets were easy to get open, but all the files appeared to be for investments, and there was nothing marked money laundering or criminal activity.

Kevin got the computer unlocked with little more than a few keystrokes, and he was searching for anything that might lead them to who was behind all of it. There was no way that an accountant, even one with links to Red Bull, could set up three of the world's best assassins, and a KSI agent all by himself. He had to have help from somewhere, and that was what they were hoping to find.

"Anything?" Jo asked, and Kevin shook his head. He was copying all of the files from Horner's computer, he planned on leaving here with a laptop, and he could go through them with specialist software to see if he had any hidden or encrypted files that weren't showing up.

Jo stuffed a file into his hoodie, and Kevin raised an eyebrow, the ski mask chafing against his skin.

"There's no sign of anything here," Jo said, and Kevin couldn't hear what Stoffel said in response, all he could see was Jo nodding. "Let's go."

Kevin made sure that everything was as he found it, and he unplugged the flash drive, zipping it away in a pocket. On the way back to the window, they passed a laptop that was still sitting on a desk, and Kevin took it without batting an eyelid, securing it in his hoodie as he prepared to climb back out of the window.

Getting down had been much harder than going up, it was difficult to see where to put his feet, and he stumbled a few times, glad that Jo had gone down first. He wasn't sure how impressed Jo would be if he landed on him, but he needed to protect the laptop, it was the only way they were going to get to the bottom of this.

Once Kevin was back on the ground safely they took the masks off and strolled down the back of the building, glad that the darkness was helping to hide them. Vaduz was so small that there weren't many alleys, but there wasn't much night life either.

Stoffel pulled up at the end of the street, and Jo hopped into the passenger seat as Kevin jumped in the back, pulling out the laptop as Stoffel drove off.

"I've got Horner's home address," Jo said, sliding the file out of his hoodie, "If he's got anything criminal, the odds are it's there in a safe."

"I've got the explosives," Stoffel said, and Jo nodded. Kevin was oblivious to it all, lines of code scrolling down the laptop screen as he tried to see if Horner was smart enough to have anything hidden on his work computer.

They drove for a while, and it became clear that Horner was either a mastermind with computers, or there was nothing hidden on his hard drive.

"Got anything that we can use?" Jo asked, and when Kevin didn't respond he reached back to rest his hand on Kevin's shoulder.

"No." Kevin shook his head, he wasn't sure if Horner was anything to do with it. Ron could have just given him a name in the hope that he'd let him live.

"I'll go in," Stoffel said, and Jo glanced at Kevin, an unspoken conversation going on between them. Jo could see the apprehension on Kevin's face, and he knew that he had doubts about Stoffel.

"I'll come with you," Jo said, "If he really is involved in all this, the odds are he has security at home."

Stoffel nodded, and Kevin felt his stomach twist. Was he letting Jo walk into a trap?

*

Jo followed Stoffel into the house, it was a large modern home, with a lot of space surrounding it. There were no neighbours nearby, and there were trees obscuring the van from sight.

The place was eerily quiet, and Jo was sure that no-one was home. Even when asleep humans were noisy, and without some state of the art soundproofing, it was hard to disguise.

They cleared the house, no sign of security, or dogs, and no sign of Horner. Upstairs yielded nothing, until they came across a room with two locks on it, same as in the offices.

Stoffel took longer than Kevin to pick the lock, and Jo felt a flicker of a smile cross his face. But it disappeared the second that the door opened.

Death was near.

Jo saw the body of Horner, slumped over his desk with a pool of blood congealed around him. From the smell, and the state of the blood, he had been dead for a few hours.

He thought back to earlier, Stoffel had been gone a while for food, and although it had taken them nearly an hour to drive here, they'd taken a convoluted route to make sure that no-one was following them. Jo knew how organised Stoffel was, and if anyone could nip out for food, kill a guy, and return with pizza less than half an hour later, it was him.

Jo kept his gun up, his eye on Stoffel in case it was a trap. There were filing cabinets around, but what they were looking for wasn't going to be left on display.

He looked behind all the pictures to see if there was a safe, and behind a landscape painting of the nearby hills, there it was.

That was when Jo felt Stoffel press his gun to the back of his head.

*

Kevin was sitting in the van, his leg jiggling as Dany bit at his nails. He'd never seen Dany worried before, so if he was worried now, things were bad.

"Earlier, when Stoffel went to get food, he returned with spots of blood on his shoes," Kevin said, glancing at Dany and Marcus. He wasn't sure if he should be telling them, if they were in on it too, but from the way Dany started grabbing guns, Kevin felt that he could trust him.

Marcus tucked a gun into his waistband, checking that both his knives were secure in his sleeves, and Kevin ushered them both out of the van.

Everything about Marcus screamed law enforcement, even the way he cleared a room, making sure that Dany and Kevin were safe with every step. They crept upstairs, the sound of people looking through drawers and moving furniture echoed around the house, and they followed the sound to Horner's office.

Marcus pressed his finger to his lips, just as the noise of people moving stopped.

Kevin feared the worst.

Marcus burst into the room, gun held high, and he aimed it at Stoffel as Dany and Kevin filed in behind him, surrounding Stoffel.

Jo turned round to look at Stoffel, pressing his gun against Stoffel's forehead. Stoffel tucked his gun away, slowly, and put his hands up to show that he didn't have any weapons hidden away. Jo nodded, and the others lowered their guns, but Jo didn't move.

"Start talking."

Stoffel took a breath, and Kevin raised his gun, but there was nothing they would be able to do to make Stoffel talk if he didn't want to. Their job, their life, relied on being able to keep secrets.

"I was given a job, to kill the three of you, clear up some loose ends," Stoffel said, no hint of regret in his voice, "But those sort of jobs only end one way."

"No loose ends means no loose ends," Marcus said, "They'd have killed you once you completed the hits."

"Yes. The only way to stay safe was to find out who ordered the hit," Stoffel said, looking up at Jo, but if he was looking for sympathy and understanding he was looking at the wrong guy.

"Who hired you?" Jo asked, and Stoffel shook his head.

"It was a disguised voice from an unregistered number," Stoffel said, "The money was transferred from an offshore shell company, and the information I needed was left in a drop box."

"So you used us to find out who hired you?" Dany asked, his face blank, and Kevin couldn't imagine being so indifferent to the idea that Stoffel had been hired to kill them.

"It was the only way that I could walk away from this alive."

Kevin hadn't expected Stoffel to apologise, although he had never fully trusted him. "Why should we trust you now?" he asked, his gun pressing against the base of Stoffel's neck.

"Finding whoever hired me is the only way that any of us are getting to walk away from this alive."

"He's right," Jo said, lowering his gun as Kevin did the same. "One wrong move, and you'll be dead before you even hit the ground."

Stoffel nodded, and Kevin tucked his gun away. If they were to have any chance of finding the person who set them up, they had to find some useful information, and Horner's home office was their best chance.

Kevin pushed Horner's body out of the office chair, the sound of dead weight hitting the floor made a satisfying thunk, and he set to work getting round the password on his computer.

Stoffel went to get the explosives from the van, accompanied by Jo and Dany, there was no way that they were going to let him out of their sight until they had found whoever had set them up.

Kevin didn't even flinch with the sound of the safe being blown open, he was too busy searching through all the files to see where the trail of money led.

"Stoffel, how much were you going to be paid for the job?" Kevin asked, as Jo emptied out the safe onto the floor.

"Fifty million euros paid to a hidden account in Andorra," Stoffel said, as Jo bagged up the money that they'd got out of Horner's safe, but it wasn't the main reason that they were here. There was a small tin, and Jo handed it over to Kevin.

Inside was an encrypted flash drive.

Kevin crawled on the floor to plug it in, indifferent to Horner's lifeless eyes staring at him. In another life he would have felt bad about it, even repulsed, but he felt nothing.

The encryption on the drive was good, but no match for him, and he was in before Marcus could finish checking through the filing cabinets.

Jo, Dany and Stoffel went to check the rest of the house, and they returned with coffee for all, as well as biscuits, there was no knowing when they would next have access to food and drink.

Kevin took his gloves off to eat the biscuits, but he put them back on before he started typing again. It had become habit to make sure that there was no forensic trail leading to him, and he was glad that Jo had trained him so thoroughly before letting him come on a job. He understood now that it wasn't about playing games, or exerting his control, but simply making sure that Kevin was able to handle himself in those situations.

"I think I've found something," Marcus said, pointing to a large file with a company name on it, "I was undercover in Sauber Finance, a Swiss company with links to organised crime."

"How are they linked to Red Bull?" Kevin asked, not looking up from the keyboard as he carried on typing.

"They handled a lot of large transactions for them." Marcus found out all the transactions, and he took them over to the desk so that Kevin could see them.

"Money laundering?" Dany said, peering at the numbers as Kevin opened up a spreadsheet.

Marcus nodded and Kevin made a little noise to show that he was still listening. He looked through the dates of the transactions, matching them up with payments that Red Bull had made. To McLaren.

"Why are they paying McLaren?" Jo asked, his brow furrowed as Kevin got out of the chair, rushing over to the filing cabinet to try and find the missing pieces of the puzzle.

He returned with a file, labelled insurance, but there was no way it was anything to do with Horner's home insurance.

"They paid to destabilise McLaren," Kevin said, typing frantically as he looked for the information, "And they were paying to destabilise Ferrari."

"They're taking over." Dany shook his head. "I should have seen this coming, I've done a few hits to take out Ferrari guys, I never asked why."

"Getting rid of McLaren's top assassin while planting the seeds of doubt within the organisation," Marcus nodded, "Doing the same to Ferrari and blaming McLaren for it."

"It's ingenious," Stoffel said, smile on his face as he shook his head, "Get your closest rivals to take each other out."

Kevin sat typing for hours, an endless stream of coffee keeping him awake as Marcus and the others tried to work out who in Red Bull was pulling the strings.

The rumours were that the man in charge had no idea what was going on, as long as the profits kept rolling in he was happy, and he didn't ask too many questions.

But someone had to be organising all this, and the easiest way to trace it all was to follow the money. Stoffel had received five million euros upfront for the job, and with Stoffel's bank details, it hadn't taken Kevin too much effort to find out where the money came from.

"It all leads to Kitzbuhel," Kevin said, looking at Dany for an explanation.

"Marko."

Dany shook his head, and Jo rested his hand on his shoulder. Kevin knew what Dany had to do. Marko had to die.


	6. Kitzbuhel

They took all the files and the computer. Jo set it up so that the oven was leaking gas, and when the timer counted down, the place would explode. Two hours gave them plenty of time to be long gone, but it was still early enough that it was unlikely anyone would have come looking for Horner.

Kevin had offered to drive, Jo didn't trust Stoffel to do it, and Kevin was relieved that Jo had faith in him.

They drove out of Liechtenstein, winding through the hills as they made their way to Kitzbuhel. Kevin stopped once they were well away from Horner's house, giving them all a break.

Kevin was left watching Stoffel as Jo went to relieve himself in the forest, Dany following behind him, and Kevin didn't know what was going on between the two of them, but it wasn't the time to be thinking about it.

If they were going to take out Marko, there was a good chance that not all of them were going to get to walk away from this with their lives. Kevin felt sorry for Jo, tangled up in this mess because of him, and he glanced over at Stoffel to see that he had been watching him, reading his thoughts as they rippled across his face.

"Jo doesn't play well with others," Stoffel said, "Once you're no use to him he'll leave you to take the fall."

Kevin shrugged, if that was true, he'd have let Dany kill him the first time that he messed up. But he didn't.

"He's always worked alone, and you're mistaken if you think he's going to make an exception for you." Stoffel leant back in his seat, his lips twitching as he waited for Kevin to respond, he was enjoying this.

"Having someone to watch your back isn't a mistake," Kevin said, watching as Jo and Dany reappeared from the forest. "It's a sensible precaution, maybe you should try it." Kevin grinned, he didn't care how Stoffel would respond. If he tried anything he'd make sure that he didn't live to tell the tale.

Stoffel laughed, his amusement only made Kevin's grin wider. "Just you wait and see my little hitman, once this job is done, Jo will go back to his old ways."

Kevin glanced over his shoulder, Marcus was still sleeping in the back of the van. Now he had the evidence against Red Bull that was his future safe. The rest of them weren't so lucky.

*

Jo had made his excuses, and Dany had picked up on his intention. The two of them needed to work out if Stoffel could be trusted, or if he was leading them into a trap.

The leaves rustled in the wind, and the smell of mountain air made it feel like a casual stroll through the park, rather than a plan to execute Stoffel if he wasn't any use to them.

"I didn't think that you worked with others," Dany said, glancing back at Kevin sitting in the van.

"It's…" Jo wasn't one to talk about feelings, but his mind was only coming up with one word. "It's nice, having someone to watch your back."

"Even when they pack blanks?" Dany laughed, nudging Jo before coughing violently.

"That was my fault." Jo glanced over to see Dany with his mouth hanging open.

"The Demolition Man admits that he's wrong," Dany said, the sarcasm thick in his voice, "I never thought I would live to see the day."

"If you ever want someone to watch your back," Jo said, smiling at Dany as he smiled back. Kevin was more observant than Jo had ever given him credit for, but he knew that it wasn't the time.

Jo laughed, and Dany shook his head. After seeing Jo and Kevin in action, he was envious of what they had. Their job was a lonely one, even when they worked with people there was always distrust, having to watch over their shoulder in case they were going to double cross them.

"What are we going to do about Stoffel?" Dany asked, his voice serious now.

"We'd have all done the same thing if we were in his position," Jo said, saying no to big jobs was hard, often you didn't know who the targets were until you'd already agreed, and they all knew that clean up jobs always left one loose end. The hitman.

Dany nodded, and they both wondered how they ended up here.

*

They were back on the road and there was silence in the van. Everyone seemed to know that they were heading towards their death, Marko would be expecting them to come after him.

Stoffel was putting together the rocket launcher, at least it would create a diversion if they needed one. All the poisons were out, they didn't have that sort of access to Marko, which Stoffel looked disappointed at.

They were going to need guns, lots of guns.

By the time they arrived at the outskirts of Kitzbuhel, they were all armed to the hilt. Stoffel looked at ease carrying the rocket launcher, even though they were going to have to scale the side of the mountain to get access to Marko's house. Although house didn't convey the true magnitude of it. It had a pool, heated since the water was far too cold this high up, and plenty of space for all of Marko's security and other minions. All set near the top of a mountain, looking down over the hills and forest below.

It was the perfect viewpoint for them to see attackers coming, and they were going to have to work very hard to slip in undetected.

Kevin sat with the binoculars, hidden in the tree as he scoped out the weak points to Marko's place. The wind sent shivers down his spine, and he had to use everything that he'd learnt from Jo to stop his hands shaking.

He watched for hours, noting down the pattern to Marko's security guys. They went everywhere in twos, and they had an alarming amount of fire power on them. There was a smaller building on the other side of the pool, and it appeared to be the entrance to Marko's compound.

Kevin had only seen a glimpse of Marko, and the mansion was large enough to have a panic room, or hide a small army inside without anyone noticing.

As the sun set, the guards disappeared inside, and Kevin tallied up the numbers. Twenty-one guards had gone into Marko's place, and unless there was an exit down the back of the mountain, they were still inside.

Kevin climbed back down, and they compared notes.

"Twenty-one guards, at least, and there's no knowing what sort of fire power he has stashed away in there," Dany said, the frown on his lips more pronounced.

"He must have heard about Horner's death," Jo said, but they couldn't have left the timer to explode later, it was too much of a risk, they needed it to look like a hit. They didn't want anyone investigating his death and linking them to it.

"The guard post is the weak point," Stoffel said, "If we can take it out with the rocket launcher, cause a distraction, then we can pick them off when they go to see what's happened."

Everyone nodded, and Jo saw Marcus hesitate. "If you don't want to do this, stay here, and stay out of the way."

"I'll do it," Marcus said, cocking his gun as he picked up an assault rifle, "I've got all the evidence I need to raid this place."

"We'll wait until it gets late," Jo said, "Use the element of surprise."

"We should get some rest," Dany said, glancing at the others. Jo made himself comfy against a tree, and Dany snuggled in next to him. No-one said a word.

*

Kevin woke up to see that he'd drooled on Stoffel's shoulder, and he tried to wipe it off but it was no use, they had bigger things to worry about right now. The others were all getting ready to storm into the house and stare the devil in the eye.

Jo threw Kevin a bulletproof vest, and a helmet with a shield. They looked like they were ready to storm into a riot.

Kevin was going to hang back with Stoffel, he had the rocket launcher slung over his shoulder, but Jo didn't have to say a word for Kevin to stay back. Peering through the binoculars, Kevin waited for the others to get into place around Marko's house, Jo and Dany climbing on to the roof as Stoffel got ready to take out the guard post.

The rush of the rocket put a smile on Kevin's face, and the second that it hit its target, he rushed towards the tree line, ready to pick off the guards as they came out.

One. The first shot hit the guard square between the eyes as he stood staring at the remains of the building, flames sending smoke up into the sky for all to see.

Two. Clipped the ankle, they went down clutching it as another shot put them out of their misery.

Three. A piercing shriek as the people around them were gunned down, clutching at their heart as the fell into the pool, the water turning black under the glow of the flames.

Four. The sound of his heartbeat rang in his ears, he was focused on taking out the enemy, his mind clear as his eyes scanned for targets.

Five. There was silence after Kevin's last shot rang out, they had taken out sixteen of the guards, which meant that there were still five guards inside, and they were prepared for an attack.

Kevin took out the binoculars, looking up to where Jo was gesturing to say that they were ready to move in.

Stoffel looked across, slinging the rocket launcher over his shoulder as they made their way around the mountain so that they could get into position for phase two.

Scaling the side of the mountain was made more difficult by the rain lashing around them, the grey clouds had gathered as they got into position, and now each move was made perilous by the slippery rocks.

Kevin was relieved when his fingers grabbed onto the metal fencing, and he climbed it without hesitation, hanging down to take the rocket launcher from Stoffel before helping him up.

"You're a natural at all this," Stoffel said, and Kevin smiled, balancing the rocket launcher on his shoulder as he jumped down from the fence.

There wasn't a back door into the house, or even any windows, but that wasn't going to be a problem for them. Kevin grinned as he pulled the trigger, bracing himself for the blast.

*

Dany was crawling over the roof, peering in through the skylight to see Marko's guards running about, heading for a room at the back. Jo looked over, and Dany nodded, watching as he let one of the machine gun straps hang down at the back of the house.

Marcus shuffled over to where Dany was lying, the three of them holding their guns tight as they waited for their signal to move.

The roar of the rocket launcher echoed around them, and the smell of smoke added to the risk, they had no idea what they were heading into.

Marcus shot out the skylight, leaving Dany and Jo to hang down through it. The smoke was thick and Jo was glad that he'd pulled his jumper over his mouth and nose. He sprayed the room with bullets, and as the smoke cleared, he jumped down, waiting for Dany and Marcus to follow as they headed towards Marko's panic room.

The man was clearly paranoid, although looking around at all the dead bodies on the floor, putting a bullet between their eyes to make sure that they were dead, Marko definitely had reason to be.

Kevin strolled in through the debris, grinning as he rested the rocket launcher over his shoulders, looking like he should be modelling for an arms company rather than in the middle of a hit that could go bad at any second.

Stoffel handed Jo the kit bag filled with explosives, and he set to attaching it to the solid metal door, grinning at the camera as he worked.

The rest shuffled off to a safe distance, clearing the house to make sure that there was no-one left hiding, but the bodies totalled twenty-one and everyone else was either long gone or staying well out of the way.

"It's up to you Marko, you can come out and talk," Jo said, waving the detonator at the camera, "Or we can come in and get you."

Jo's grin looked like Kevin's, and he strolled off slowly, slinking out through the hole in the wall that Kevin had created. He hit the button when he was sure that everyone was clear, the sound of the blast like music to his ears, and he dashed in through the dust to see Dany dragging Marko out into the room.

Marko had stupidly thought that he'd be better off alone in the panic room, but now there was no-one left to defend him.

"You got greedy, Marko," Dany said, pointing his gun directly at his forehead as the others surrounded him.

"I knew that I shouldn't have trusted you." Marko spat at Dany's feet, and Dany smiled.

He looked truly happy as he pulled the trigger, watching the blood pour out of Marko's lifeless body.

"You guys should get out of here," Marcus said, taking the gun out of Dany's hands. It would be better for everyone if no-one ever knew that they were here.

"Thank you," Dany said, walking away with Jo by his side. He reached out to take Jo's hand, their fingers intertwined as Kevin glanced at Stoffel with a smile on his face.

"This makes us even," Marcus said, and Jo held his hand up as if to wave goodbye, motioning for Kevin to follow as Stoffel left a bag at Marcus' feet.

They were gone before the sun came up, and Marcus watched the sun rise over the mountains while he called in his location, the evidence against Marko stuffed in a bag, along with the gun that killed him.

He smiled as agents swarmed the place, he had his old life back.

***

Getting out of Austria had proved easy, since everyone was interested in the incident at Marko's house, and Marcus had taken sole responsibility. He'd left Jo a message, saying that they were safe, for now.

Marcus was being hailed for his heroics, taking down the evil criminal organisation and saving the day.

They rest of them had made it as far as France before finding somewhere to hold up for a few days, wait for things to calm down.

Kevin was sitting in one of Stoffel's flats, as bland as impersonal as Jo's, and with an equally suspicious looking bookcase that probably hid all this weapons, and poisons. He was finally clean after over a week on the run, and a nice warm shower, along with hot food, had him feeling like all was right with the world

"Still think that working as part of a team is bad idea?" Kevin stared at Stoffel, they all knew that if they hadn't worked together they'd all be dead now.

Stoffel's lips twitched, the tiniest of smiles, but Kevin was happy to see it. The fact that Stoffel had tried to warn him about Jo, looking out for him, that was an act of someone who cared.

Kevin stared at him, reaching out to trace the bruises that were covering his body. Considering all that they'd been through Stoffel was relatively uninjured, but he still flinched when Kevin's fingers brushed over his skin, his nipples hardening as he leant in for a kiss.

Stoffel's lips were soft, at odds with his own wind-chapped ones, but the kiss was perfect. Once the stress of being on the run had worn off, Kevin had realised that he got on well with Stoffel, and now, having seen him wandering around the flat in just his boxers, it didn't hurt that he was achingly handsome.

Kevin slid his hands around Stoffel's waist, not breaking the kiss as he lay back on the sofa, guiding Stoffel on top of him as his towel fell open. He spread his legs so that Stoffel could grind against him, the breathless moans and gasps muffled as their movements got more frantic, both of them coming with a jolt.

The kisses got sloppier, both of them grinning as they caught their breath, and Stoffel cuddled in next to Kevin, reaching out to hold his hand as he drifted off to sleep.

Kevin lay sated on the sofa, smiling as the sound of running water filled the flat, and he counted the seconds.

One hundred and one.

Kevin smiled, he wasn't the only one having some fun.

*

Dany was sitting on the side of the bath as Jo checked his wound, it looked less dramatic now that the crust of blood had been washed away, his pale skin standing out against the layer of sweat and grease that had formed.

"I think you'll live," Jo said, pressing a kiss to Dany's ribs. He kept his eyes down so that Dany wouldn't see him blush, heading straight for the shower. Jo made sure the water was the right temperature, but the water was still going to sting the cuts.

Dany slipped out of his clothes, they were fit only to be burnt, and Jo turned to leave but Dany reached out to stop him.

"Not going to join me?"

Jo smiled, drawing Dany closer until their lips met, the taste of blood and sweat on his lips. Dany's long fingers were teasing at the hem of his jumper, pulling at the holes in it, and Jo slipped out of it, wincing as his shoulder clicked into place.

Dany stroked the side of his face, and Jo nuzzled against his hand, stripping out of his jeans as he tried not to look at his filthy clothes.

Jo led Dany to the shower, the water like heaven on his aching muscles as it splashed over him. He opened his eyes to see Dany slumped against the shower wall, streaks of his pale skin showing through where the water had run down.

Dany rubbed at his eyes, and Jo hurried to get the shower gel, lathering up his hands before massaging it into Dany's scalp, little circles that had Dany relaxing under his touch.

Jo leant in for a kiss, running his hands down the curve of Dany's back, working away as their hard cocks rubbed together, but he didn't stop until Dany was clean.

He rested his forehead against Dany's, staring into his eyes as he bit his lip, reaching down to wrap his hand around their cocks. Dany's lips danced against his own, muffling their groans as they rushed towards their climax, the warm water splashing on them prolonging the aftershocks.

Dany giggled and Jo smiled, his soul warmed by the affection.

"What are we going to do now?"

***

The news was blaring in the background, everything had returned to normal. Normal for them, at least.

Jo watched it all from the comfort of his flat, Dany curled up under his arm as arrows whipped past them.

London was the last place that anyone would be looking for them, and it seemed the best place to be if they were going to carry on working.

There was something about living in a big city that allowed them to hide among the crowds, move in the shadows.

"Aren't we meant to be on a tropical island somewhere, one with no extradition treaties?" Kevin asked, sitting the bow down. He'd been showing off his skills to Stoffel, and Jo was watching carefully.

"This is the last place anywhere would think to look for us," Jo said, although the sound of lying out on a beach somewhere was tempting, especially after sneaking back into Britain so that they didn't arouse suspicion.

"We can retire somewhere exotic," Stoffel said, "And out of the reach of the law."

Jo and Dany blushed as the sound of two people kissing echoed around the room, and Jo coughed as Kevin picked the bow up. He waited until Jo was watching, and he fired an arrow without looking, hitting the bullseye for the second time in a row, the crunch of an arrow breaking as Kevin grinned.

Jo smiled, after all these years working alone, he was part of a team.

"Good job."

**Author's Note:**

> *and obviously none of this actually happened, it is all a figment of my twisted imagination ;)


End file.
